inFAMOUS Second Sons: Eclipse
by FabuLulu
Summary: Delsin, Eugene, and Abigail are called to track down two mysterious and powerful Bio-terrorist thieves and make several unlikely allies, including a hotheaded hydrokinetic Conduit. Delsin encounters several new powers along the journey, while Fetch battles an emotional conflict. Eugene is haunted by the memory of a blue-eyed Conduit-a person who may be just who they're looking for.
1. Chapter 1-Erin's Demise

Erin Kingston paced around on the top of the Millenium Tower, her anxiety building rapidly as the sun lowered into the horizon. She nibbled on her thumbnail, her teeth chattering rapidly. Her short, choppy brown hair fluttered in the gentle San Francisco breeze, and her green eyes were narrow like a cat's, and began to glow as the darkness began to settle. A string of pearls lined her neck, and her ears sparkled with her latest theft-priceless diamonds, over twenty thousand dollars in cash. Her raid in Paris had been sweet, but the ecstasy of the trip had made her forget.

Now, it was time.

Erin looked out anxiously upon the horizon, and her heart dropped to her stomach.

The sun sunk into the waters.

Immediately, night gripped the city, and the city lights lit up like a Christmas tree. But the Millennium Tower stayed dark.

There was a whisper of wind, and Erin knew ..._they _had arrived.

"Hello, Erin." A voice greeted, sweet as honey. Through her acute night vision, Erin could see the two figures-one of them with her back turned, the other almost completely obscured by a pitch-black cloak. The one with the cloak stepped forward, her face hidden in shadow.

"I trust your vacation in France was good?" The cloaked one asked innocently.

Erin stared, too terrified to speak.

"I asked you a question, Erin." The cloaked figure's voice now had an edge, like a hidden knife. Erin swallowed, hard, and her voice came out high and pitchy.

"Oh, y-yes!" She cleared her throat, and this time her voice was steady. "I mean, yes, it was enjoyable. Shame you couldn't come."

"Oh, we had errands to run. Speaking of which," The cloaked one took another step forward. Erin, too terrified to move, stifled the terror rising in her throat. "Did you complete the task we asked of you?"

"Oh, yes, of course!" Erin's tongue stumbled over her rehearsed alibi, but she prayed they didn't notice. "Right before I came to France, I trusted the goods to a consultant of yours-she goes by J, doesn't she? But when I came back, she seemed to have misplaced them. Of course, I am currently searching for them now, cleaning up after her mistake." She said quickly as the cloaked one advanced rapidly. Erin backed up, but her feet slipped on the edge of the Tower. Right before she fell, a hand shot out and grabbed Erin by the front of the shirt.

"But we trusted YOU, Erin. Didn't we?"

"Yes, I'm deeply sorry. Truly, I am." Erin's voice rose hysterically, as she dangled over the city. The figure's grip tightened, and the one with her back turned muttered something like, "-never trusted her, anyway."

"I'm sorry too, Erin." The cloaked one said.

And she let go.

Erin held back a scream as she fell through the night, willing her powers to activate. Immediately, feathered wings sprouted from her shoulders, and her body morphed into a small, bird-shaped form. Erin picked the wind up with her wings as she soared upwards, letting a sigh of relief whoosh through her.

She blinked and screeched to a halt. There, floating in midair in front of her with wings that seemed to be made from pitch-black flames, was the cloaked figure.

Erin tried to scream, but a rope made of pure shadows wrapped around her neck. Erin immediately shapeshifted back to her human form, choking as the rope tightened.

"Stupid animal shapeshifting Conduit." Her tormenter spat. She drew back the hood, and Erin saw pure black eyes, leaking with black flames, and a pointed smile.

"You can't run." She grinned, raising her hand, and a jet of dark red energy burst from her palm, engulfing Erin.

Erin screamed as the nightmares began.


	2. Chapter 2-The News Report

"D, ketchup or no?"

"Nah!" I called back, kicking my feet up onto the low wooden coffee table. My pink-haired friend, Abigail Walker, or "Fetch", nodded as she put the phone back to her ear, continuing her order from the downtown fast-food place. Sitting next to me on the simple blue couch was Eugene, typing on his shiny new laptop doing who-knows-what, muttering under his breath. His glasses began to slip, and he impatiently pushed them back up, in a fashion that looked like he was wiping his nose.

It had been a month since I had exposed Augustine to the public. A month since the D.U.P. crumbled and disbanded. It felt like ages, I thought as I looked around my new apartment in Seattle. Since I was apparently "the hero of the nation", and "the face of the new era of peace", and (this nickname still stuck), "Banner Man", the apartment complex manager had hooked me up with a mid-floor apartment, with a ridiculously low charge. "Nice reward for all your troubles, eh D?" Fetch had joked when I first picked up the keys.

Of course, Fetch and Eugene didn't go unnoticed-Eugene moved his lair in the Lantern District to the apartment right next to mine, and also got a deal with a ton of gaming companies and tech stuff, thus the new laptop. And Fetch also got herself a new apartment, near ours, of course, and what she did didn't surprise me-she began a campaign against drug producers and dealers. She had named it the Brent Walker Campaign Against Drug Abuse. And now-we could just relax. No D.U.P. on our tails. No more hatred and fear of Conduits.

It was all gone.

"The normals are going to need time to adjust," Eugene had warned after I began promoting the new age of peace between Conduits and normals. "They've lived their entire lives in fear of Conduits/Bio-terrorists. Although it began to fade when you came around...it's still not going to be easy."

His words rang in my head as I stared at the blank TV screen, and Fetch called to Eugene from the small kitchen, "'Ey Eugene, what do you want from Burger King?"

"Uhh..." Distracted by his laptop, he trailed off, tapping away at the keyboard.

"EUGENE!" Fetch yelled, and Eugene jumped, bumping the laptop against his knees.

"Uh, just the fries and Coke!" He called back, rubbing his kneecaps and wincing as he pushed the laptop towards himself again. I chuckled, leaning back on the couch. I always felt more at ease when Fetch and Eugene were around. Us three, we'd been inseparable since last month's events. Once a team, always a team.

"Mmkay, thanks!" Fetch clicked her phone shut and came over to the adjoined living room, nudging my knee.

"Scoot." I scooted over, and she slid in next to me, found the remote buried between the couch cushions, and clicked on the TV to Channel 5. The weather woman (whom I found extremely attractive) was just finishing up her report as she turned it back to the main desk.

"Thank you, Tonette." The severe-looking man at the desk said. He shuffled his papers. "Moving on-our main story for today is a woman found at the foot of the Millennium Towers in San Francisco, California. Her name is Erin Kingston, age 31, and a confirmed Conduit who has the power to shape shift into different animals, as sources report. She was found lying next to the Tower's entrance, in some sort of state of delirium." The TV showed footage of the woman, twitching on the ground as paramedics carried a gurney over to her. News reporters and concerned citizens crowded in a circle around her. Erin's eyes were open, staring off into the sky, muttering and twitching. She looked like an asylum escapee.

Fetch reached for the remote, and was just about to switch the channel before the man reported, "This is believed to be the work of the two infamous Conduit thieves."

Fetch froze. Eugene's eyes snapped up from his computer. I leaned forward, putting my legs down.

"These two thieves have recently become notorious, from stealing precious jewels to whole cargos of goods. Their first reported theft was the raid of the wealthiest jewelry store in upper New York City, where the manager, Lola Hopkins, was found in a similar state of delirium as Miss Kingston. However, not all of the victims are spared-some have been killed, with traces of what appears to be black smoke drifting from their bodies. Some victims have been found in a state of sleep, suffering incredible nightmares. However, the identity of these two thieves are unknown, but it appears that they have affiliations with other Conduits across the nation. "

Fetch, Eugene, and I all exchanged a look. Fetch's eyes were cold and hard, Eugene's wide and in shock.

"It had been only a mere month since the downfall of Brooke Augustine, thanks to the Conduits Delsin Rowe, Abigail Walker, and Eugene Sims-"

Fetch smirked, Eugene blushed. I felt an overwhelming sense of pride, and grinned. But I remembered what the report was really apart, and the grin was wiped from my face.

"-but the peace that was just beginning to settle has been shattered. Citizens are now in fear of these two Bio-terrorists, and tension is beginning to rise once more. Will these two criminals bring the end to the budding era of peace between Conduits and humans?"

The news report ended, and Fetch quickly fumbled for the remote and switched it shut.

"Crap. Just...what the hell?!" I growled, pounding my fist against the table, making it rattle. "After all our work, and two puny little thieves ruin it?!"

"I don't think they're just "puny little thieves", Delsin." Eugene said quietly. "If the situation has become this serious, then..."

"We're leaving." Fetch interrupted, standing up so abruptly she pushed the coffee table back with a screech. I gave a start.

"Leaving? Where? When?" I sat up, staring up at Fetch. Her eyes were smoldering-I knew she had a passion for busting the baddies, and no way she was gonna let this one slide.

"We leave now." She announced, grabbing her brown jacket from the coat rack next to the door.

"What? But our food's coming soon!" I protested, looking up at the clock. 6:34 P.M.

"Never mind the food, D!" She said, clearly frustrated. "We need to go. Back."

"Back? To where?" Eugene shut his laptop slowly, staring at Fetch in befuddlement.

She turned to us, sliding her coat on.

"Back...back to Curdan Cay."


	3. Chapter 3-Olivia Price

**A/N: Just for clarification, this is a spinoff after the Good Karmic ending, not the bad one. So Delsin, Fetch, and Eugene are heroes, not super reckless villains. Also, school is coming up in a couple of days (literally like four days), and obviously I won't be able to update a lot. I'm trying to put as many early chapters up now so I have a head start before the school year officially begins. Thanks!**

"Woah woah woah. Fetch, slow down." I jumped to my feet and walked over to her, grabbing her wrist before she could grab the doorknob. "There's two Conduit criminals that are tearing apart the peace between Conduits and humans. You're upset about that. We all are. But go to Curdan Cay? Why?"

"Look, I don't wanna go any more than Eug-I mean, any of us does." Fetch glanced at Eugene. He was gripping his laptop so hard his knuckles were white, and his eyes were wide. I knew firsthand what Eugene had had to go through in that hellhole, and I sure as hell didn't want them-didn't want _any _of us-to step foot in that place. _Ever._

"Then why do we gotta go back?" Eugene asked timidly. He knew better than to question Fetch's motives, but right now was a good time for it.

"Look, the D.U.P.'s kept a record of all Conduits, right? Even the ones who weren't captured. As long as it was officially confirmed." Fetch explained, using her hands for wild gestures to emphasize her explanation.

Eugene and I nodded slowly.

"Sooo, if we hack into their records system, we might be able to find the name and powers of these two thieves!" Fetch finished and looked at us expectantly, waiting for us to agree or for that "ohhhh!" moment.

But Eugene knitted his eyebrows together, and I shook my head. "Fetch, even if we did hack into that monster computer you call a system, which I don't think any of us know how to do, we would never know. They said the powers and identities are classified, right? How the hell are we supposed to find them if we don't even know what we're looking for?"

The doorbell rung suddenly. Fetch jumped back, as if going too near a fire. She yanked the door open shakily, and standing in the doorframe was a girl, maybe 18, wearing a vintage Rolling Stones t-shirt and sleek leather leggings, topped with high-heeled boots. Clutched in her hands were the Burger Palace bags.

"Hi, this order is for...Abigail Walker?" The girl asked sweetly. She was Asian, with sweet brown eyes and light brown hair. I raised an eyebrow. She was pretty, sure, but for some reason I couldn't help feeling suspicious.

"That would be me. T-thanks." Fetch attempted a weak, grateful smile, taking our order and leaving to put the food in the kitchen.

"That'll be sixteen dollars and fifty cents, please." The girl extended her hand. I dug in my pockets for some spare change and looked around wildly.

"Eugene, you got some money on ya?" But Eugene shook his head and shrugged.

"I got it!" Fetch called, as she walked back into the living room, holding a glass of water and some bills. "Lemme just-"

Her sentence was cut short when the zipper of her boot got caught on a loose thread from the rug. She stumbled, and the glass slipped from her hands. The water flew out of the glass-and stopped in midair.

Fetch gasped, regaining her footing. I could see Eugene blinking rapidly. And the delivery girl's hands were glowing blue, holding them out as if she were pushing a door open. She flicked her wrist, and the water flew back into the glass.

Before I knew it, I had her pinned against the wall, gripping her wrist.

"I knew there was something about you." I said. The girl looked unafraid, her eyes staring me down.

"Delsin, back off!" Eugene said worriedly. "Don't do anything rash. It's not like she's evil."

"No, your friend is right. I'm not." The girl said. Slowly, I let her go and backed away. She shook out her hand. "But I had some affiliates who might be."

"And who are these affiliates?" I questioned, raising a brow. The girl leaned against the wall, crossing her arms.

"How rude. I forgot to introduce myself." The girl winked at me, and I resisted the urge to blush-not with Fetch here. "I'm Olivia, Olivia Price. And I just might be able to help you find these two Conduit thieves the TV was talking about."

"Oh really?" Fetch snorted, setting the glass down. "Look, kid, thanks for the food and stuff, but we-"

"Hey, can I borrow your computer?" Before Eugene could reply, Olivia snatched the laptop from his hands and balanced it on her hand as she typed away with the other.

"H-hey!" Eugene protested. But Olivia put the laptop on the table and flipped it around.

"Look, these are their major dealing coordinates. They don't always work by themselves, they have people who help 'em." Olivia showed us a map of the United States, and major cities were labeled with a small red dot. Chicago, Boston, Philidelphia, New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Seattle.

"They deal all around, but these are where you can find their affiliates. One of them...one of them is my brother."

This took me aback. Olivia shook her head, sighed, and continued. "I know you're going to go after the thieves, but you can't do it without their allies. They're the only clues you'll get."

This was too much to take in. I stood up abruptly and walked to the kitchen, rubbing my eyes. I could tell Eugene and Fetch felt the same way.

"Look, we're grateful for you bringing the food to us." Fetch began slowly. "But please, one thing at a time. You can't just barge in here and give us all-this."

"You're right." Olivia sighed. "But first, Delsin, you're going to need some new powers for your journey, aren't you?"

"Huh?" I blinked. But she had already crossed the room and took my hands in hers. Immediately, powers surged through my arms and I gasped as I smelled something faint-like the smell of the sea.

I could see Olivia's face, twisted in agony as her face distorted and I blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4-More than She Seems

_Loyalty. Family. Friends. It all means nothing...once they realized what you were..._

An image ripped through Delsin's mind-Olivia, exiled from her closest friends and family...pushed away.

_All the memories, all the times you've had together? It vanishes, all at the word, "Bio-terrorist"..._

_ This is my story._

An image swept through, gentle as a breeze, of a little Olivia, playing at the sea, not a care in the world.

_As a little girl, I loved being by the sea. People always questioned how I could keep my breath underwater for so long, and could cut through rough waters like nothing, but I assumed that...I was just a good swimmer._

_ My Conduit gene stayed inactive for so long...until middle school. I was in the seventh grade when I got a huge crush on this boy, Caden. I had a best friend named Kiana..._

Another little Olivia, laughing with a blonde girl and a smiling, black-haired boy. Olivia looked as if she were with the two best people in the world.

_One day, a strange man in orange ran by our classroom window. He looked as if someone...someone were chasing him. He looked inside, at our confused, little childish faces-and he raised his arm._

My heart clenched.

_Fire, pure red fire, shot from his palm. The fireball broke straight through the glass and landed on a bookshelf. The thing lit up like a Christmas tree. Again and again, he shot those bolts. I could hear my class' screams ringing through my ears. I could remember the teacher, her panicked voice high-pitched, unnatural. I remember crouching under my desk, the heat becoming unbearable, the smoke filling my lungs, until-_

_ Woosh._

Jets of water, waves of it, came pouring out of her hands, filling the room, washing the flames away, washing the ashes out the window.

_When it was all over, the fires were gone, a puddle of burnt books and stray pencils trickled outside the window...and my class was huddled in the corner, staring at me. I was no hero. In their eyes was only terror._

_ "Olivia...you're a-you're a Bio-terrorist too?" My teacher barely whispered. I stepped forward, but my class whimpered, and she spread out her arms. Shielding them. Protecting them from...me._

_ "I-I stopped the fire." I murmured weakly. My hands still glowed blue. I could smell the sea. The ash on my face was gone, washed away by my powers. My body surged with my newfound power, but I could feel my heart twisting with fear. "I saved us..."_

_ I looked desperately, to my best friend, Kiana, and my other best friend, someone I liked more than that, Caden. I gave them a pleading look. "Please," my eyes said. "I'm no monster."_

_ And what did they do?_

_ They looked away._

_ I remember the day the D.U.P. truck came to pick me up at the school. My teacher always said how we were the future of the nation, how we must grow up strong and healthy, but she had no problem tossing a thirteen-year-old girl into prison._

_ Especially one that's a Conduit. _

_ My mum and dad were there, clutching hands, standing in the school doorway. She and the D.U.P. guards talked for a while, and then they grabbed my arms and led me to the truck. I glanced back at my parents, tears dripping down my face. My mum looked down, but my father stared straight back, eyes full of disgust._

_ It hurt more than it should have._

_ In the D.U.P. prison, I was treated more kindly than most prisoners. I was only thirteen, and my "crime" was extinguishing a fire. But that didn't make it-or anything-more bearable._

_ In the prison, I made a friend. At first, I was wary-Caden and Kiana had forgotten all about me, after all-but she was...different. Understood what I was going through. When I asked her name, she said...Crystal. She could manipulate memories. She could easily make someone forget what they were doing, or their whole past. Or she could place false memories in-she was amazing. _

_ When we all got out, when Delsin Rowe freed us, Crystal begged me to come with her, to travel. Of course I said yes._

_ So I went with her, traveling across the nation. And there...it was amazing. Me and Crystal were fine on our own, the normals accepting us as if we were one of their own. _

_ And then the robberies began._

_ Crystal became tense, always looking over her shoulder, always thinking she's seen something. One day, she asked me, "Hey Olivia, you know those two thieves everyone's always talking about?"_

_ "Yeah..."_

_ "I'm going to find them."_

A groan escaped my lips as my blurry vision cleared. I blinked my eyes open and flipped over onto my hands and knees. I found one of the dining table chairs (a cheap plastic thing) and put my hand on the seat, hauling myself up. Eugene and Fetch were keeping their distance, watching worriedly.

Near to where I was, Olivia moaned, slowly getting up. Her brown eyes, formerly bright, now were dull and tired.

"You see, Delsin? I can-help-you..." She groaned through her teeth. 

"What, to rescue your friend? Did she go missing after she went after them? Why didn't you go with her?" Questions tumbled from my mouth. My mind was numb from what I've seen-I've done this four times already, but the things Conduits have had to go through still leaves me feeling lifeless afterwards.

"One, she doesn't want to be rescued, particularly. Two-"

"What do you mean she-"

"Look, lemme finish!" Olivia snapped. I backed off, raising my hands in surrender. She sighed and continued.

"Two, she did go into hiding. Three, she wouldn't let me go with her. Said it was too dangerous."

"That's retarded." Fetch snorted. "Surely you're lying-"

In a snap, water came spinning out of the kitchen faucet and sprayed Fetch in the face. She spluttered. "Damn it, it's all up my nose!" She took a tissue, snorting out the water.

"Good, now will you let me finish?!" Olivia sounded almost hysterical. Fetch opened her mouth to protest, but I gave her a warning look. She rolled her eyes and backed off, arms raised in surrender.

"Crystal didn't want me to go with her because she knew I wouldn't agree with her. She didn't want to _capture_ them, she wanted to _ally_ with them."

I blinked, realization dawning over me. "So what you're saying is..."

Olivia nodded glumly, head down. "Yup. Your next clue to the thieves' whereabouts-Boston, Massachusetts. "

The room went quiet. Then. I said softly, "I'm sorry, Olivia."

"Yeah, I am too." She sniffled and shook her head. "But first things first, your new powers. Can you do anything?"

"Uh..." I tried to hide my embarrassment. "Thing is, you know the glowing boxes the D.U.P.'s left behind?"

"Yeah.." Olivia tilted her head.

I exchanged a look with Eugene. He grinned and nodded. I smiled and looked back at Olivia.

"Up for some Core Relay hunting?"


	5. Chapter 5-Back to Curdun Cay

**A/C: Short little chappie I decided to write to lead into the next chapter more smoothly. Also, once most the main characters are introduced, I'll include a bonus chapter with pictures of what each OC would look like.**

**Fetch's Point of View**

"We'll split up." Delsin decided. "Eugene, you can stay behind and do more research using any available resources. Fetch, you can go and see if you can find anything in the old D.U.P. prison at Curdan Cay. Olivia and I will search for more Core Relays."

I nodded curtly, glancing at the newcomer, Olivia Price. She was a cute Asian chick, leaning against the kitchen counter, arms crossed. Her expression was unreadable.

"We'll head out." Delsin grabbed his jacket and tossed it on as he pulled the door open. Olivia picked herself up and began walked after him, arms still crossed. "We won't take long." He promised as he closed the door behind him.

Eugene and I exchanged a look.

"Sooo...what do you think of her?" Eugene asked quietly as he settled down on the couch again, picking up his laptop. I shrugged.

"She's pretty, I guess." I muttered. Eugene gave me a strange look.

"I meant, what do you think of her as our ally?"

"Oh, uh..." Heat flooded my face. Damn it. "She, uh, seems to know a lot. I think it's kinda weird she used our Burger Palace take-out order as a tactic to meet us, ya know?"

He shrugged. "Probably that was her opportunity to talk. Maybe she works there?"

I snorted as I headed out the door. "Well, she's definitely fired now."

In a short time, I arrived at the doors of Curdun Cay. My heart lurched in my chest as I looked up at the abandoned building. The place used to be swarming with D.U.P.'s and Conduit prisoners.

Now it was empty.

Conflicted feelings clashed-anger, resentment, fear. I could almost feel the tight, power-silencing cuffs over my hands again, as I looked at the metal beams supporting the eagle of the D.U.P. on the roof.

With a grimace, I raised my hand, and the metal eagle toppled to the ground in front of my feet, a hole burnt straight through its chest, neon flame still smoking from the burn.

"That was for the hell you put me through." I whispered to the eagle at my feet. I stepped over it and into the prison.

I walked past countless cells, abandoned orange suits, the special handcuffs lying abandoned on the floors. The air felt frigid, and I shivered, hugging my arms to my chest. My heartbeat began to rise, as memories surged through me: the targets, burning with neon smoke, the other Conduits, crying for help. And the "tests", held behind the doors...

I shivered and walked on. There were a set of stairs leading down and up. I looked down, imagining there were probably more empty cells down there. So I took the other staircase, my feet pounding against the metal stairs, echoing across the empty compound.

The upstairs was filled with all kinds of D.U.P. gadgets-more of the Core Relay boxes, stacked against the wall, an array of guns lining the walls, files and papers lying scattered on the floor. But I was attracted to the huge supercomputer at the end of the room, the screen taking up the entire wall. A massive keyboard was perched underneath the screen.

Briskly I walked over to it, and arbitrarily pressed buttons. The screen flickered to life, and I raised an arm over my eyes, the light blinding in this dark place. A window popped up and promptly said, PASSWORD.

"You kidding me?" I sighed, frustrated. "Bad enough I had to come back to this hellhole, now there's a goddamn password..."

I looked around hurriedly, not wanting to be in this...place, any longer. My eyes fell on a stray manila folder and I snatched it up, sifting through the arbitrary papers. My eyes fell on an old Conduit activity report. Scribble on the top, barely legible, was the word, BIO-TERRORIST.

"Can you be any more obvious?" I snorted, tossing the folder away. The papers in the folder scattered across the floor as I typed in the password. The computer beeped, and a green light blinked as I accessed the computer.

"And that's how it's done." I murmured triumphantly, pulling up a window labeled "Confirmed Bio-Terrorists".

An alphabetical list of names popped up, in order by last name. Curiously, I typed in the search bar, "Abigail Walker". I clicked on the name and sat back, looking over the U.S. form-styled page, eyes skimming over all the basic information. My eyes fell on a mugshot of myself. I looked...defeated.

I was caught after I killed Brent.

I closed my eyes for a while, sighing through my nose. "I miss you so much, Brent." I whispered as I opened my eyes again. Overtaken by a sense of curiosity, I searched up, "Delsin Rowe."

There he was. A blurry picture of him, not a mugshot, scaling the roofs of Seattle. His status: "ON THE LOOSE". I smirked, as I leaned back, studying his face. Call me a creeper, but something about Delsin...he was just so...different. And not just the fact he has a Conduit ability I've never seen before. Instead of running in the face of danger, he faced his fears head-on. When most Conduits would go into a life of hiding, he became a national hero.

I shook my head. What was I thinking? I searched up the uncaught Conduits. There were only two names. I clicked on the first one, which read "EMERSON, KYRA". There was a picture that looked like it would be taken on Picture Day in elementary school. There was a young girl, maybe nine, smiling wide with a gap in her front teeth. She had long, dark brown hair and light brown eyes. I leaned forward, crossing my arms.

**NAME: Kyra Emerson **

** BORN: November 2, 1991**

** GENDER: Female**

** STATUS: Presumed dead**

** FAMILY: Jane Kress-Emerson-Biological Mother, Maia Emerson-Biological Sister, UKNOWN FATHER**

** POWERS: Unknown**

** CRIMES: None listed. Suspected Conduit.**

I blinked. That was it? There, on the top of the form, read the bold, red letters, "SEARCH TERMINATED" and "DECEASED". Without thinking, I flipped out my phone and speed-dialed Eugene.

"Fetch, you found anything?" Eugene sounded hopeful. I was guessing his research was unsuccessful.

"Found some phantom paper. Literally has nothing on it. It's about some little girl named Kyra who they think is dead."

"But you think...Fetch, what are you saying?" Eugene sounded befuddled, probably wondering why in hell's name I would be bringing up a little girl who's probably dead. "You think she was affiliated with the criminals or something?"

I sighed, balling my hands into fists. "Eugene, listen. This is gonna sound stupid, but...I don't know. I have a hunch about this. Think about it. The D.U.P.'s have caught every last Conduit left since the explosion seven years ago. Every. Last. One. "

"Fetch, some who have the Conduit gene live their whole lives without ever knowing they had it." Eugene said slowly. He probably thought I was going nuts. "Maybe you're-"

"Eugene, listen. They're in the 'Confirmed Bio-Terrorists' list. That means someone called into the D.U.P. and reported this girl as being a suspected Conduit. The D.U.P. woulda gone and captured her, right? They're unavoidable. But how come they never did?" My voice was getting louder and louder. "Eugene, what if they're not really dead? What if it just says they are because The D.U.P.'s _were never able to catch them?"_

There was a sound as if Eugene was about to say something, but then I think he really started considering what I was saying.

"I was able to dodge the D.U.P.'s for a long time. They might have powers that help them hide better. But now that the threat of the D.U.P. is over, they've come out of the dark again." I explained hurriedly.

"'They?' Who's they? You said you only found the little girl." Eugene interrupted. Usually he was a stuttering, shy thing, but he was really getting serious.

"It says the girl-Kyra-has a sister. Maia. If Kyra was actually still alive, she'd be, what, 25? Only a year older than D-Delsin, I mean. Plenty of time for her powers to grow while she waited out the fall of the D.U.P.'s."

"Check Maia's profile on the computer." I could almost hear Eugene's brain wheels turning as I clicked at Maia's name. I hurriedly read over her bio. But this time, there was no picture.

"Even less nothing than Kyra's." I reported. "No picture, no nothing. But her birth date says she's about six years younger. A year younger than you, Eugene."

"That's still enough time for her to practice with her powers-whatever they are. Here, I'll hack into the U.S. government mainframe and into the Census. Maybe I'll find 'em there."

"Ooh nice. Not only are you a Teen Angel, you're also a professional hacker."

"T-thanks?"

"Don't mention it."

The line went silent.

"Hello? Eugene?" I said, still glancing up at the computer screen. Finally, after a long while, he says,

"Fetch, I think I found something."


	6. Chapter 6-An Unlikely Ally

"Water powers focuses more on healing. Although Conduits naturally have rapid healing, it wouldn't hurt to have a little more." Olivia grins. "I know a hotspot. Seattle's been pretty much raided of Core Relays-"

"That'd be 'cause of me," I muttered sheepishly. Olivia rolled her eyes, in an "of course" fashion.

"-but they're all over major cities. Ever heard of Mercer Island?" I shook my head. Olivia shrugged. "Well, ya will soon."

Eugene had stayed behind to do more research on the cities and the thieves-Fetch had departed for Curdan Cay, as she promised, hoping to find more clues on the subject. And I? I was way too eager to find out my new abilities. Sure, Water seemed a little weak compared to Smoke, Neon, Concrete-and my favorite-Video. But it still had its uses. Rapid healing? Hell yeah.

"Are you sure you can't do _anything?" _Olivia threw me a look as we walked briskly along the streets of Seattle. My beanie was pulled down lower than usual-I was so not in the mood for people to point and call out "hero of the nation", "that's Delsin Rowe!" or-god forbid-"Banner Man". I walked, head down, hands in my pockets.

"Er...no. It happened with Concrete, Video, and Neon too. After I got those, I couldn't use any of my other abilities either." I explained. Olivia's head was tilted, her big brown eyes fascinated by my predicament.

"But after you got Smoke, you could use it?" She snorted. I shifted a little bit, uncomfortable with all the questions. She was seriously curious.

"Yeah, but they were really undeveloped. I still needed Core Relays to learn new abilities for Smoke. All I could do was Smoke Dash and use this chain-" I held up my wrist, shaking the chain wrapped around my wrist fondly. "-and that was it." A question popped into my head. "I wonder, do other Conduits need Core Relays like I did?"

"Probably not." Olivia shrugged as we approached the Sam Smith Park. We were approaching the shore quickly, and Olivia's shoulders relaxed. She seemed more relaxed the closer we got to the water. "We're Prime Conduits. The gene is naturally in us, and so are the abilities and power. I mean, we could if we wanted, but we could survive without them. Your natural Conduit ability is Power Absorption, but when you absorb powers, it's a little bit of a lesser version than the original one. So it's like being a forced Conduit-you'll need Core Relays because you don't naturally have that power."

"You know a lot about this, don't you?" I raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled and shrugged innocently.

"I _am _a Prime Conduit."

We walked in silence for a while. Hands in my pockets, I looked over at her. Her long light-brown hair fluttered at the approaching breeze of Lake Washington. Her lips were slightly curled at the corners, in a mischievous and content fashion. I had a feeling trusting this snappy, slightly charming Asian girl would end up with a knife in my back, with that impish smile of hers, but I saw a fire in her eyes that made me believe she could-would-be a valuable ally.

Oh God. I was starting to sound all philosophical. Earth to Delsin.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as we approached the road leading straight to Mercer Island. Olivia sighed through her nose, tilting her head back, eyes closed. I stared at her for a while, mesmerized by her state of absolute serenity, before the voicemail began to play.

"D, it's Fetch, call me back when you ca-"

Breaking out of my trance, I fumbled around in my jean pocket for a while before my fingers closed over my phone. I pressed the button and brought it to my ear.

"Oh, Delsin, you're there." Fetch sounded only mildly surprised. "I was starting to wonder what was going on between you two. Yaknow, _alone." _

"What are you-" I suddenly realized what Fetch was implying, and I shook my head rapidly, even though Fetch couldn't see me. I looked over at Olivia, who had also broken out of her peaceful state and was tilting her head quizzically. I held up my index finger, and she nodded before I turned and walked off a little bit. When I was sure Olivia was out of earshot, I whispered, "Oh no. No no no, Fetch, NOTHING like that is going on. I just met the chick."

"Fair point." I could hear Fetch's devilish grin in her words, and I resisted the urge to facepalm. "Anyway, D, after you're done having fun with your hydrokinesis junk, head over back to the apartment. I found some cool stuff at the old D.U.P. headquarters."

"Already? How?"

"I'm fast, remember.? Perks of being a Neonite."The line went dead. I sighed and snapped my phone shut as I returned to where Olivia was. She was standing at the edge of the bridge, which was silent, all activity bare.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, it was just Fetch." I said casually. I looked down at the water, and my throat tightened. I backed away slowly.

"What, scared of water? You told me there was a fish cannery at your Reservation place. Surely you went on a boat before?" Olivia's voice barely concealed underlying laughter. I glared at her, heat rushing to my cheeks.

"Doesn't mean I actually do any of the fishing..." I muttered. Olivia finally laughed. This was the first time I've heard her laugh. It was clear and sweet, and with the background of soft water and the darkness of night, it was a perfecting setting for a picture.

"C'mon, I know a quick way of transport. You'll like it, I promise. I'll be right there the whole time." Olivia promised. I glanced skeptically at her.

"Who said I trusted you?" It was harsh, maybe, but it was true. I had met the girl literally two hours ago. Olivia didn't seem miffed-her face split into a grin as she gripped my wrist.

"I'll give you a reason why." She pulled me along with surprising strength for a girl who was 5'5, right to the cliff. My eyes widened.

"Olivia-!"

We jumped.

I screamed a not-so-manly scream, my body flailing as I braced myself for a horrible, drowning death. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact and splash-

And there was none.

"You can open your eyes, moron!" Olivia's voice, light and full of laughter, rang in my ears. Slowly, reluctantly, I opened them.

We were hovering over the surface of the water. A small wave gurgled under my feet, keeping me standing. I swallowed hard. How the hell does water even support my weight? Olivia looked like she was having the time of her life, surfing around the the support beams of the bridge leading to Mercer Island.

"You must be a hella good surfer." I observed. She laughed.

"Well, I grew up in Austin, so I wouldn't know! Let's go! Destination: Mercer Island!" The wave under me began to move, and I nearly fell off the thing. My heart skipped a beat as I regained my balance clumsily.

"Do the surfer pose!" Olivia called, already having a head start as she began to zoom away.

"Surfer what?" I observed her form-back slightly bent, riding sideways, feet set apart, arms out. Feeling stupid, I imitated her pose as the wave sped towards the island. Surprisingly, it worked-I could keep my balance now. Wind rushed past my face, and the scent of water filled my nose as I whooped. I could hear Olivia cheering ahead of me. We were moving so fast, I almost felt like my face was going to peel off.

It felt awesome.

In no time, we approached the Island. Olivia hopped onto shore. The wave died suddenly as we approached the shore and I tripped, water soaking my sneakers as my feet sank into the shallow water.

"Great. These were my favorite shoes." I grumbled, my shoes squelching as I tromped onto shore.

"Were they really?" Olivia looked as if she couldn't wipe that ridiculous grin from her face. It was different from her usual mischievous smile-it was pure exhilaration.

"...Nah. I can buy different ones later." I shrugged, smiling as well. "I didn't think it would be, but that was...fun."

"It was, right?" Olivia bounced a little on the balls of her feet. "Maybe next I can teach you how to swim!"

The smile faded a little. "Yeah, um, maybe not _that_ far..."

Olivia laughed and shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway..." She looked out upon the city. "You ready to get some cool new powers?"

An hour later, I was running around the shore like a madman, creating little vortexes and whirlpools and creating shields of ice and walls of mist.

"This is awesome! I can really control water whether it be ice, liquid, or vapor?" I called breathlessly. Olivia was sitting on a large boulder, watching with an amused expression on her face.

"Yup. It's like the cooler version of cryokinesis." Olivia studied her nails.

A mischievous idea popped into my head as I reached out my hand while she was distracted. A huge sphere of water began to swirl into form, rising above the surface of the water. When it was the size of a basketball, I made a flinging motion with my arm, and the sphere splashed right into Olivia's face.

She spluttered and blinked, staring at me.

"You know, another perk about Hydrokinetics-" I grinned. "-You can have the _ultimate _water fight."

Olivia sprang to her feet, eyes twinkling. "It is _so _on, moron."

She raised her arms, and a sphere of water the size of my body formed. My eyes went wide as I broke into a run. I could hear her laughter as she chased me. A huge force slammed into my back, and I gasped as my back was soaked.

The shore was filled with laughter as Olivia and I tossed huge water spheres at each other, nonstop. It was beginning to become deep into the night, but city lights illuminated the sky.

It was beautiful...until a scream pierced the air.

I froze. Olivia's charging water sphere sputtered and died, dripping down her arms as she lowered them, eyes narrowed. One of the nearby building lights flickered before it went out completely.

"Something's going on," Olivia stated simply.

"Should we check it out?" I questioned.

"Already ahead of ya, moron." Olivia began to run into the city. I had no choice but to follow.


	7. Chapter 7-The Encounter on the Rooftop

**A/C: Hey guys. I'll try putting more detail-emotional depth in my chapters. It's hard cuz makes the chapters look so short . And I hate being too detailed. But I'll try! (also I don't know what Mercer Island looks like so ok .)**

I followed Olivia, the ground changing from dirt to cement, as my wet shoes squeaked against the pact ground. I looked up, but the lights appeared to have gone back on.

"Olivia, the lights are back on." I noted, out of breath.

"Yeah," she panted as she ran, "But what was the scream?"

That shut me up.

For all I could tell, this was the only citylike part of Mercer Island-the rest of the Island was just one, big sleepy neighborhood with a lot of natural forests left over from the old days. Buildings stood monolithic against the black sky, now sparkling with awakening stars as the waned moon came into view.

We came into the city, the activity now dying down, with only a few cars lazily snaking their way along the roads. However, all the buildings were still shining brightly, only a few windows dim as citizens settled down for the night. Nothing seemed wrong, and the remaining residents on the streets seemed completely at ease.

"Um, excuse me." Olivia approached a young man, in a very-official looking pinstriped suit, who had been walking briskly along the sidewalk. Olivia hurried her pace to catch up with him. "Did you notice anything suspicious? Hear anything?"

"No, I don't think so. Things have been the same around here as always." The man distractedly checked his watch, continuing his brisk pace.

"Wait-" But the man waved her away as he quickly walked away. Olivia blinked and we exchanged a look.

"Are these people trippin'?" She mouthed. I was just as bewildered, shrugging in a "don't ask me" way. She rolled her eyes and gave me a glare, like "you're no help", and ran up to the next closest person-a woman with smile lines around her eyes clutching a two-year-old girl's hand.

"Excuse me Miss," Olivia began. "Have you noticed anything, um, out of the ordinary? Heard anything?"

"No, I don't believe so, sweetheart. Why? Did something happen?" The woman said, smiling. The two-year-old stared up at Olivia, eyes blank and innocent. Olivia glanced down at the kid, made an awkward attempt for a friendly little wave which ended up looking like a twitch, and turned back to the mother.

"Well, you didn't hear or see anything? You didn't see any lights flickering? Or-or hear a scream?"

"Oh dear, of course not! Things are never exciting on Mercer Island." Olivia opened her mouth as if to say more, but the mother tugged the child closer to her. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you, dear, but I've got to get going home now."

"Oh, yes. Sorry." Olivia blinked rapidly as the woman walked away. The little girl turned her head, pinning Olivia down with a blank stare before the mother tugged her around a corner, and they were gone.

"What's going on? Are _we _the ones tripping out?" Olivia looked around her wildly. I scratched the back of my head, just as clueless as she was. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, or maybe someone turned their TV up too high. I told Olivia this, and she nodded slowly.

"Yeah...yeah, that's probably it. Heh, getting worked up over nothing." She laughed nervously. She didn't sound totally convinced. "Well, you got your abilities, didn't you? Let's get going, moron."

She turned and began to walk away, and I started to follow when something caught my eye-a movement at the corner of my eye. I whirled around and grabbed Olivia's forearm. She yelped. Oops. Forgot about the whole "enhanced Conduit strength" thing.

"What the hell, moron?! You're a lot stronger than you lo-"

"Olivia."

"What?"

"Look."

I pointed up at a building, silhouetted against the moonlight. A small figure, covered in shadow, jumped across to the building and disappeared.

Olivia and I exchanged a look. Around us, the city life died as all the cars disappeared around corners and the lights began to flicker off, one by one. We were the only ones left.

But maybe we weren't.

"Delsin, you got any tricks up your sleeve to scale this thing?" Olivia looked up the monumental building, looking stuck.

"Yeah, but I'm going to need either a neon sign or a video screen." I replied. "Wait here. I'll see what I can find." I ran off, searching the city. I passed sleepy little cafes and small clothing shops, and held my breath as I ran by a particularly rancid-smelling live bait shop.

"C'mon, where are they..." I muttered. I flew past a series of small shops-then backtracked my steps, head turning to the side. There it was. A flickering, little TV.

"Perfect." I reached out my hand, and pixels flew from the screen and into my arm. Power surged through me, and I relished this old feeling of Video power. The screen went black, but my hands now glowed with blue pixels as I made my way back to Olivia. She was waiting expectantly, leaning against the brick walls, arms crossed, tapping her foot.

"About time, moron." She scoffed. "Got what you needed?"

My lips quirked into a smile as I glanced down at my hands. "Yeah."

"Well, let's get started then. Lemme see..." Suddenly, Olivia's body poofed. Literally, poofed into a cloud of water vapor. I could still see the faint outline of her body as she scaled the building easily.

"What?!" I called up as she quickly made her way to the rooftop. "How come I didn't learn that?"

"You're not a Priiiiimeee!" Olivia called back in a singsong voice. I sighed as I sprouted blue wings and swooped up the brick walls, landing on the rooftop easily.

"Hey moron, look!" Olivia punched my arm (ow) and pointed. The figure from before, still hidden in the nighttime darkness, was staring at us from the building across from us. As soon as Olivia and I moved, the figure bolted, running across the rooftop.

"Go, go! I'll flank her from the other side!" Olivia turned to her vapor form as she sped off in the opposite direction. I ran across the rooftop and jumped, activating my thrusters and landing safely on the next building. This would have been a great time to have Neon, but too late now. The girl was running at the speed of light-literally. She was faster than Fetch, already two buildings away. There was a glow around her that seemed to illuminate her more brightly, or maybe that was the moon.

I groaned as I used my wings to soar across the rooftops. But this girl was way too fast. _Where the hell is Olivia? _I thought angrily as the girl got farther and farther away.

A bolt of ice shot out of nowhere, and the girl yelped as her feet were encased in blocks of ice. A cloud of vapor formed next to the girl as it solidified into Olivia.

"It really is better than cryokinesis." I marveled as I landed next to the girl, panting from the chase. The girl had narrow grey eyes, chin-length black hair, and she was tall, taller than me. Definitely not the prettiest girl I've ever seen.

"What do you want from me?" The girl-or woman-said in a heavy accent. Olivia looked a little suspicious-the figure we had been chasing earlier was way smaller than this giant.

"Y'see, we've been spotting suspicious activity. There was a scream, and then the lights flickered. No one else knows what we're talking about." Olivia stepped closer, holding up her hand threateningly. Her palm began to glow with a blue light. "Maybe you do."

The woman stared at Olivia's palm, refusing to meet our eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about." I could barely make out her words over her thick, foreign accent. What the hell was she? She spoke fluent English, but sheesh... "I'm just another Conduit. I'm trying to get home."

"You suck at lying." Olivia snarled. The woman refused to flinch.

"Olivia, easy on the interrogation." I placed a hand on her shoulder. She threw me a vicious glare, but I gave her a "you really want to fight?" look. She sighed deeply through her nose and backed off, hands raised in surrender.

"Alright, moron. You ask the questions."

"Thank you." I said in mock politeness. Olivia scoffed and turned her back to us, crossing her arms. I looked back to the woman, whose poker face expression hadn't even twitched.

"Okay, listen. If you did nothing wrong, why were you running so much?" I asked in a softer tone.

"I was afraid." God, the accent. "I didn't know who you were, and I got scared and ran."

"That's reasonable." I mused. "So if you're a Conduit, what are your powers."

"I-I have speed." The woman's tongue stumbled over her words. Not big. But my eyebrows shot up.

"You hesitated."

The woman blinked, and I suddenly grabbed her wrist. The woman yelped, and the image flickered-wait, what?

I briefly saw a set of scared blue eyes before the woman flickered back. Realization dawned over me.

"Olivia, it's an illusion."

She whipped around, and marched right up to the woman (which was now questionable).

"Let's find out."

Olivia raised her hand, and a whirlpool began to form at the woman's feet. The woman looked down, and her eyes widened in surprise before she was totally encased in a spinning sphere of water. She disappeared inside the hydro-coffin, and Olivia spun her hands around, spinning the sphere like a huge spinning top of death.

"Olivia, that's enough! She might drown inside." I reached out to grab her wrist, but she danced away from my grasp.

"That's the point!" She grumbled. But she brought her arms down in a X-motion, and the sphere split. A tiny body flew from the sphere and landed on the rooftop with a _thud. _As soon as she made the impact, all the lights in the city went off. I could hear protests and exclamations of surprise in the distance.

"It was all an illusion. There was a blackout and she made it look like there wasn't." I observed. Just who _was _this girl?

I walked over to the trembling body on the rooftop and halted at the sight of her. She was small, about five solid feet, and skinny too. She had wavy, platinum blonde hair that was soaked and dripping, making it look darker. Her rectangular black-rimmed glasses were lying in a puddle near her. She was wearing a black t-shirt and white shorts with something that looked like black ballet shoes, minus the ribbons. She was coughing her lungs out, gasping for air.

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" I knelt down next to her, but she squeaked and rolled away weakly, fumbling for the glasses.

"S-stop! Go away!" She cried weakly, her fingers closing over her frames. She clumsily pushed them on, but she did it wrong and the glasses were all lopsided.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." I held up my hands innocently.

"What about...her?" The girl jutted her chin towards Olivia, who was watching with a rather amused expression on her face.

"Oh, she was just...she won't hurt you." I promised, throwing a pointed look at Olivia. She only shrugged, like "not part of this". I turned back to the girl, who was staring at me with frightened blue eyes.

"I'm sorry we hurt you. But we needed stop the illusions. Is that a power of yours?" I asked. The girl looked up at me, and opened her mouth to answer when a _snap _sang out.

The girl's head whipped around, glaring at Olivia, who had just taken a picture of the girl with her phone. I sighed. "Olivia, what are you-"

I yelled as a searing burning ensued in my shoulder. I fell back in shock, the shoulder of my jacket steaming, as the girl and Olivia broke out in a battle. I could hear splashing and hissing noises from Olivia, and sound like a laser. My eyes were blurry from the searing pain in my shoulder, but it suddenly began to feel a whole lot better. I looked down, and a coat of water was rippling over the burn wound, the skin repairing. I looked back. Olivia had one hand in my direction to direct the healing ability, the other hand countering the girl's light beam attacks.

While the girl was distracted, I charged forward and tackled her to her ground, seizing her around the waist and pulling her down. The girl let out a squeak as we tumbled, and I reached out to grab her hand. But she evaded my reach, attempting to crawl away. I grabbed hold of her foot savagely, and she tried to kick me off. But I held on with a grip of iron.

"Olivia, subdue her, now!"

But there was silence.

"Olivia?!"

A sudden blow to my head made me go dizzy as someone pulled me off the girl with such force I was thrown back, landing painfully next to Olivia's still body. I could detect the faint rise and fall of her chest, but her face was contorted, gasping for air.

"Olivia..." I started to crawl towards her, but the shadow under my arm suddenly became solid, forming itself into a shadowy rope and twisting itself around my wrist. I tugged at it, but it wouldn't budge. As I moved, the shadow under my other arm became a solid, pitch-black rope and wrapped around my other hand, tying my arms down. I struggled, grunting with the effort.

"Who the hell are you?!" I yelled in frustration. Out of the darkness, a person formed from the shadows. Her face was hard to make out-I could only see light brown eyes, narrowed, glaring at me with such venomous hatred my courage shriveled up a little.

"Stay away from my fucking sister." Her foot swung out of nowhere, kicking me in the jaw. Pain exploded, but it was a dull one. Conduit healing, yay.

"I might not be able to hurt you, Conduit..." The girl placed a foot on my chest, leaning down. Her face was still too hard to make out, but those eyes now flooded with black, and my heart dropped to my stomach. "But Conduits are still prone to fear. Sweet nightmares, bastard."

I could only a jet of red flame spurt from her hand before red ripped through my vision, and I screamed into the night as I went under, falling, falling...


	8. Chapter 8-Back to Reality

"How could you do this to us, D?"

I'd know that voice anywhere.

I wake with a groan, my head pounding unbearably. There's a faint sniffling noise, and the clang of metal. I look down and my heart stops.

I'm wearing the orange suit. The one for D.U.P. prisoners.

Heart pounding, I sit up suddenly. This is a feat-my hands are cuffed.

So are Fetch and Eugene.

Fetch is crouched in the corner, crying softly while muttering, "...promised I'd never come back..." Eugene's glasses are broken, a jagged crack running through the lenses. He's staring at me, but when I try to catch his eye, he looks away suddenly.

"W-what happened?"

"You betrayed us, D." Fetch sobbed. My heart clenched, feeling like the breath had just been knocked out of my chest.

"What? I would never-"

"You sold us out to the D.U.P. After the government finally got it to their heads that they needed the D.U.P., you sold us out to Augustine. Lucky for you, you're stuck here with us." Eugene's voice was bitter, a tone that shocked me.

"Guys, I would never do that." I insisted, my voice rising in panic. No, this wasn't true. The D.U.P. was gone. I had exposed Augustine...

"But you did. Happy?!" Fetch snarled.

"Fetch-"

"Stay away from me, traitor." She glares at me so venomously, I back away. I look down at my cuffed hands, and lower my head to my knees. No, this wasn't happening. Wake up, Delsin, wake up...

Footsteps approached the cell, and the door was swung open. I looked up, and two D.U.P. guards were standing there.

"Bring them all," one of them said. More guards appeared, pushing into the cell and roughly grabbing my arms. I struggled, baring my teeth as I tried to pull out of his grasp.

"Keep a close eye on that one," The guard jabbed my arm with the point of his gun. "He's a hard one."

I looked desperately at Fetch and Eugene. But what I saw devastated me. Their shoulders were hunched, their heads down. Fetch threw me a look, void of any emotion. It was pure hopelessness.

They had given up.

I kept my teeth bared, my arms stiff as the guards lead us down the hall, past the cages. Conduits barely even passed us a glance as we passed. However, one girl looked up at the sound of approaching footesteps. What I saw made me halt.

"Olivia?" I gasped. She looked at me blankly, her hair choppy, unlike the waves I saw. Her brown eyes were dull, lifeless. Of course. This was Olivia before she was freed.

Except now she would never be free. Because I had been a fool.

"Who's Olivia?" She said in a monotone. "I'm Hana..."

I furrowed my eyebrows until the D.U.P. behind my back poked my back sharply with the point of his gun. I moved on, staring at Olivia as we passed. She stared back, until she finally looked away.

The guards led us into a room. There, watching from a balcony far up, was Brooke Augustine.

My throat clenched with hatred, as I glared venomously at her. I could almost feel the pressure of Reggie's hand gripping mine...and then being forced to let go.

I despised her.

"Good! You're all here!" She called, her voice booming around the room. I looked around. It was spacious, the size of a gymnasium, but it as completely empty. A shaft of glass in the ceiling let a beam of sunlight shine in a perfect circle on the floor. I could see the dust particles swimming through the light beam lazily.

"Bring the Video and Neon Bio-terrorist forward." The guards tugged Fetch and Eugene forward. They didn't even resist. They only kept their eyes down, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

"I believe the Bio-terrorist behind you is the whole reason you two are back?" Augustine's statement was like a knife to the chest. Only then did Fetch and Eugene make eye contact with me. There was no anger, no desperation. They only held the fact that I, someone they trusted, had betrayed them.

I was a monster.

How could I do this to them? There was a pinch beneath my eyes, but I tilted my head back and squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the feeling away. I would not give Augustine the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

"You can't trust anyone, can you?" Augustine was clearly enjoying this as the guards placed Eugene and Fetch in the center of the room, right in the beam of light, facing each other.

"People you trust always end up betraying. You're always better off by yourself." Augustine continues. Fetch and Eugene don't even bother looking at me anymore. They don't need to.

"Which is why, those you trust? You have to eliminate them, before they have a chance to betray you. Since your friend has already done that..." Augustine grips the railing. "How about we terminate any others that might?"

At this, Fetch and Eugene exchange a look. My heart drops to my stomach. No, this can't be happening.

"The Bio-terrorist who lives...will be freed from prison. But fail to kill the other, and you both shall remain here, forever." Augustine's voice is becoming unnatural, high-itched and ringing with an edge of malice. This wasn't Augustine...

But Fetch and Eugene's cuffs fell off with a hiss. Fetch stared at her hands, in disbelief, then a cold determination takes over her eyes. She looks up, and sees that Eugene is already poised, ready to fight.

"No, NO!" I scream, the D.U.P. holding me back as I struggle, trying to get to them, talk some sense into them. "Don't do it! Fetch, Eugene, you can do better than this!"

They completely ignore me, both staring at each other with desperate determination in their eyes. Fetch's hands glow with pink neon light as she rushes at Eugene and jumps up, her fist glowing with energy. At the same time, Eugene lets out a yell, and his body multiplies, three times his normal size. It was He Who Dwells, his alternate game persona. He raised his blue computerized blade as Fetch brought her fist down, and a scream ripped my throat as they made impact,

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"No, Reggie! Take my hand!"

"D, wake up! Delsin, it's just a bad dream, WAKE UP!"

Something hard whips me across the cheek, and I wake with a start, a yell escaping my lips as I sit up suddenly in my bed. My forehead is slick with sweat, and my cheeks are throbbing, with involuntary tears running from my eyes. My heartbeat quickens as I look around wildly.

"It was just a dream, D!" Fetch says, her arm raised for another slap. She lowers it quickly, then grips my shoulders, looking into my eyes. She's sitting on a chair next to my bed. We were back at the apartment. We weren't at Curdun Cay. "It was just...a...dream..."

"Fetch!" Without meaning to, I pull her towards me, hugging her tightly. Her body stiffens in surprise, but she relaxes and pats my back awkwardly.

"It was all a dream, D." She says softly. Realizing she must be incredibly uncomfortable, I let go of her quickly, my heartbeat slowing. Eugene was watching worriedly from the doorway, dressed in a _Militia Warfare _camo hoodie and jeans. Fetch is dressed in a bright pink shirt and black leather leggings. Always stylish.

"You guys...you guys are okay." More involuntary tears (very, VERY manly involuntary tears) as I squeeze my eyes shut. How many times have I seen myself betray Fetch and Eugene? Seen myself turn against them? How many times do I relive Reggie's death? How many times do I see those girl's brown eyes, turning black as a nightmare, plunging a blade through Olivia's body.

My eyes fly open. Olivia.

"Where's Olivia?" I gasp. I look down. I'm wearing a red hoodie and sweatpants. Not exactly my favorite color, but it was mad comfy. I take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

"Um.." Fetch bites her lip. "She brought you in a couple of hours ago. Looked like hell. She was barely managing to carry you. As soon as she put you in bed, she collapsed. Literally. I carried her to the couch. Didn't have the heart to toss her out."

"Delsin, what happened yesterday on Mercer Island?" Eugene asked suddenly. Fetch raised a brow and nodded, obviously asking me the same question. But I wasn't in the mood to relive those memories yet. I glanced at the alarm clock next to my bed. 2 p.m.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. "I'll tell you guys later." I said. "I, um, should bring Olivia to her house. Let her rest up."

"Oh. Yeah, okay." Eugene nods. Fetch says nothing. She gives me a look, like a quick glare, then becomes very fascinated at the alarm clock as she shrugs. "Sure."

"Y-you alright Fetch?" I try to put my hand on her shoulder, but she shrugs it away.

"Fine."

I glance at Eugene, and he only shrugs. Did I say something about Olivia in my sleep?

No. I don't like Olivia. And Fetch was probably all anti-boyfriend or whatever. It wasn't possible she was...jealous.

"Well, I'll...be going, now." I say hesitantly, waiting for Fetch's reaction. She has a poker face expression, unwilling to meet my eyes.

"Fine. Have fun." She says dismissively.

Disappointed and slightly worried, I slide on my sneakers and keep glancing at Fetch over my shoulder as I head out the door.

I find Olivia on the living room, just as Fetch said. She's still in her clothes from yesterday, the Rolling Stones t-shirt now streaked with blood. She seems to be in a peaceful sleep, except the occasional twitch. I slide my hands under her back and her legs and lift her. Surprisingly, she's light as a feather despite her strength. Her head and arms hang freely, making her look like a dead body. Balancing her body on a knee, I re-position my arm so her head is snuggled against my chest and I'm holding her arms in. It's a rather intimate position, and it makes me a little uncomfortable, but it'd do.

I step out the door and take the stairs down to the lobby. I step out the door and grin at my new black car. It was small, but I managed to pass my driving test in high school, so it was fine.

I opened the door and slid her sleeping form into the back of the car, then slide into the driver's seat.

"Where to, Olivia?" I say, not expecting her to answer. But surprisingly, she does.

"...Austin..." She mumbles. Well, that wasn't an option.

"How about the motel downtown?" I suggest. She makes a grunting noise.

I'd take that as a yes.

After renting a room for her on the top floor (the manager was a fan-I got the room after giving him my autograph), I go to the room and look around. A bed, a couch, a TV, and a bathroom. It would do.

As I walk toward the bed, her eyes suddenly fly open, and she grabs the front of my shirt. "Run, Crystal, run!" She screams, startling me so bad I lose my grip. She lands on the carpeted floor with a dull _thud_, and she groans, rolling over.

"Oh my God, Olivia, I'm sorry!" I reach down to help her, but she waves me away.

"It's-it's fine, moron." Her voice is muffled, her face smushed into the floor. I sighed. She was fine.

Slowly, she hauls herself up, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. She stands shakily, but she stays upright.

"How do you look fine?" She grumbles, wiping off her hands.

"Because I'm so naturally handsome that all my flaws are ignored. Oh wait, I don't have any, I'm perfect."

She manages a smile as she looks around.

"Nice. Looks like my room in Austin."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was shit." I snort as she pulls a wallet from her pocket. "I need to get some clothes, I left everything behind in Texas."

"Wait. You hopped on a plane to Washington and brought absolutely nothing?" I say incredulously.

She seems to hesitate before answering, "Obviously I brought a spare change of clothes."

"Like what?"

"Pajamas."

I sigh in frustration. "Go nuts."

She's decided to drag me along on her shopping trip.

Kill me.

"Hmm, this one or this one?" Olivia holds up a Marilyn Monroe vintage tee-shirt and a Beatles one. She was obsessed with them. She called it "retro". I just called it old-fashioned.

"Mmm, yeah." I said distractedly, thumbing the keys of my phone.

"Delsin!" She insisted, and I pointed randomly at the Marilyn Monroe one.

"That one. Yeah." I mutter. She rolls her eyes and puts it away.

"What? You ask for my help and yet you ignore it." I say in mock offense, putting a hand to my heart.

"Let's admit it, your sense of style isn't exactly top-notch." Laughter fills her voice as she begins looking at a selection of shoes.

"The way I dress is fine!" I insist.

"If you're going for white gangster, then sure." She snickers, admiring a pair of velevety black wedges.

"That's so racist." I say, but my mouth quirks into a smile. "Plus, if my sense of style is so bad, why ask in the first place?"

"You're telling me what not to buy. It's a great help."

I can't help it-I laugh. She looks a little surprised, but eventually she smiles too as she carries a mountain of clothes.

"C'mon, moron. I'm done. I'll finish it up some other day."

"Finish?! You're not finished yet?" My eyes widen. Good thing her Conduit strength is kicking in, because a normal girl would collapse under the weight of everything. All the girls in the store were staring either at Olivia and her ridiculous amount of purchases or at me. A teenage girl recognizes me, giggles with her friends, then starts heading over.

"Whatever, let's just finish so we can go." I say, tugging on her arm as we go to the check-out.

"Hey Olivia," I say quietly as we drive back to my apartment. She had changed into the Beatles vintage tee and skinny jeans, with the velvety black wedges from earlier. Her hair was in a side-curl style, and she was sitting in the passenger seat. She looks over. "Yeah?"

"Um..." I remember the nightmare and shudder at the memory. So instead, I say, "Why did you come to Seattle?"

She's quiet for a moment, kicking her feet up on the dash. Normally I would snap at her to put them down, but she looks so relaxed right now that I didn't really care.

"Well...after things between me and Crystal fell apart, I..." She thinks for a moment, leaning her head against her fist, her elbow propped on the open window. "I heard about what you did. You're a hero."

"Yeah, just never call me Banner Man, please." She laughs and gets right back to business.

"I knew eventually you would hear about the two criminals, and I knew you would do something about it."

"How'd you know that?" I looked over at her, keeping one eye on the road. I drove slowly, knowing this was a perfect opportunity to talk. She didn't seem to notice or care, but she gave me a knowing smile.

"Well, when Augustine was in her reign of terror of Seattle, you didn't exactly just sit by, did you?"

I was silent. She grinned at my expression. "Got ya there, eh moron?"

I shrugged, unwilling to admit she was a lot more perceptive than she looked.

"But anyway," She continued. "I knew there was nothing left for me back at Austin. My parents would never accept me again, even after all you've done. So I packed my spare change of clothes, the only one I had from my travels with Crystal, and I boarded the plane to Seattle."

"So, you didn't actually just forget your stuff from Austin...what you brought was all you had." I realize. She nods, her expression unreadable as she looks away.

"Looks like we're here." She says as we park in front of the apartment complex. She puts her feet down and opens the door. But I had one final question.

"Olivia," I said, and she halts, her door on the knob.

"Yeah?"

"Olivia isn't your real name, is it?"

She stares at me, her mouth open.

"Is your real name...Hana?"

I struck a nerve. Her face goes hard, and she shuts her mouth with a snap as she looks away.

"C'mon. They probably have a bunch of questions for us, not the dumbass one you just asked." She snaps as she slams the door shut. But instead of being offended, I sit back in my seat, and stare at her figure walking away, and I wonder if there's more to Olivia Price than she's giving off.


	9. Chapter 9-The Truth behind the Emersons

**A/C: I'm actually conflicted cuz I don't know if Delsin should end up with Olivia or with Fetch. I don't like Olivia that much but I don't really ship Delsin x Fetch that hard. THE DECISIONS.**

**Eugene's POV**

"Where is he? Does it really take that long to get a girl home?" Fetch grumbles, pacing back and forth across the living room. I lounged on the couch, watching a video game trailer. I glanced up over the rim of my glasses. I knew Fetch wasn't usually this snappy-ever since Olivia came around, she's become a lot more tense. (A/C: Or she's on her time of month. Lol jk.)

I wasn't blind-I knew Fetch had a huge crush on Delsin. Maybe even more than crush. I mean, Delsin _did _understand her better than anyone else. And yet, he was so blind to how she felt. I was betting that Fetch liked him from the start, but with the whole Augustine and D.U.P. thing, there was probably no time for them to bond. Even though that was a month ago, she's been too shy. And now with the two criminals, and Olivia, there's no way she's getting through to him.

How do I know all this? I don't know, really. I just knew.

"Maybe stuff happened," was all I murmured as I browsed the website of Jinxed Games Inc. What was really on my mind was whether I should order their new fantasy MMOPRG or the single-player action warfare game. Decisions, decisions...

Fetch was silent, simply glaring at the clock as the minutes ticked by. She was calm, cool, and collected, like Fetch always was.

And no, I don't like Fetch. She's become somewhat of a friend after the whole D.U.P. adventure, but she still intimidates me, with those burning eyes that warns anyone that crosses her or her friends will surely regret it. But as a crush? No way.

"What do you think of Olivia?" She suddenly said, pausing in her pacing.

"Huh?" I pushed my glasses up my nose and looked up. I wasn't surprised she would ask this question, but I didn't think she would keep brooding on the subject-she knew I would get annoyed and probably figure that she liked him (though I knew that already, not that she needed to know). But if she was asking this, it was probably bothering her more than I thought.

"Uh..." I pondered this as Fetch looked expectantly at me. What _did _I think of Olivia?

"She's...straightforward." I said. Fetch tilted her head, her eyes narrowed. Quickly, I said, "I mean, she's straight to the point. She's pretty no-nonsense. And, um, a little hotheaded and sarcastic."

Fetch nodded a little, looking somewhat relieved. "Oh. Okay."

I was only partly saying that for Fetch's sake, partly because it was true. I didn't trust Olivia, and I was pretty sure Fetch didn't either, and not just because of the whole Delsin ordeal. I only knew her for three days, and yet, she had this gleam to her eyes that made me wary. I knew that Fetch and my powers combined would definitely best Olivia should she try anything.

But she was smart. She knew things, and that made her more dangerous than any of us.

A memory flashed before my eyes so suddenly I almost dropped my laptop as I jerked upright in something like a cringe.

"Eugene? You okay?" Fetch's voice seemed distant as a memory, a memory so insignificant I had forgotten about it, flooded my mind with color...

_The city of Seattle was cloaked by a gloominess, created by the low, gray clouds hanging in the sky, the tips of buildings almost seeming to be engulfed in the clouds. The air was muggy and humid. I was laying on my bed, back in my lair in the Lantern District, long before I got in contact with Delsin..._

_ It was midnight, but I was restless that night. Maybe it was the air, feeling so heavy it was like a weight on my chest. Maybe it was the fact that dozens of D.U.P. Knights strolled the streets right above my head._

_ Or maybe it was that level in Heaven's Hellfire that was particularly hard to beat. God, it was taunting me._

_ Another round of HH wouldn't hurt...eh, why not?_

_ I swung my legs over my bed, ready for another intense hour of tackling that boss battle. As soon as my feet made contact with the floor, the door leading to my room swung open, and then slammed shut as someone tumbled neatly in._

_ I froze, my toes barely brushing the cold floor. It was a girl-with wavy blonde hair, but not yellow blonde-more like a whitish blonde. She had wide periwinkle eyes, and she didn't notice me until she finally looked in my direction. Her eyes widened as she backed up, but her back hit the wall. She was wearing a black hoodie, the hood casting shadows over her face, a dark gray shirt undernearth, black jeans and sneakers, and black rectangular glasses._

_ "Who-who are you?" I stammered, raising my hand in defense. I didn't dare advance towards her. How the hell did she find me?_

_ "I-" She looked exhausted and a little frightened. "I'm sorry. I'll go."_

_ "Wait! How did you find this place?" I take a step forward, and she tries to back up, but the heels of her feet bump the wall. She looks around frantically, and then her eyes fix on the trapdoor. _

_ "I just-" Her words trailed off as she stared at me. The rest of her words were lost in an unintelligible mutter, her lips moving soundlessly. She clearly lacked in people skills._

_ "Hey, it's okay. I'm bad with people too." I said quietly, lowering my hand. She seemed to relax her shoulders a bit, but still seemed tense._

_ "Are you a Conduit?" I asked. This wasn't any easier for me than it was for her-I hadn't talked to people, much less a girl, in a long while. But she nodded silently._

_ "Me too."I said quietly. "What's your name?"_

_ "Ma-" She blinked, and as if breaking out of a trance, shuffled her feet and looked up. "I gotta go."_

_ "Wait-" But she was suddenly gone-the trapdoor swung open, then shut. A glimmer of light trailed behind her, and as I stepped forward and thrust my hand into the light, it twinkled and then faded away._

"Eugene?"

The memory died with a snap as I came back to reality with a gasp. My heart slowed down as I saw Fetch in a similar state-sitting on the floor, looking absolutely bewildered.

"What happened?" I spluttered.

"Just-I don't know." Fetch slowly stood, looking a little shaky. I looked out the window, and it was less than a second-a flash of yellow, then gone. The image of the girl, her eyes and her hair, lingered in my mind, and I looked down at my clenched fists.

Who was she?

Before I could ponder on this further, the door swung open, and a bright, smiling Delsin burst through. Something about that smile seemed forced. "Hey my lil' Conduit studs! I'm home!"

"Hey, D!" Fetch looked infinitely glad to see Delsin, even when Olivia slipped into the room silently. Her face looked a little stormy, and I wondered what had happened while they were together.

"Anything happen while I was out?" Delsin yawned as he plopped down on the couch beside me. I opened up the files on my computer and twirled it around, shoving it to Delsin.

"Here's what we got from the D.U.P." Delsin looked it over, and Olivia came over and perched on the armrest nest to Delsin to peek.

"This is it? This is nothing." Delsin snorted. He was about to push the computer back, but I held the computer in place. "Their names are Kyra and Maia Emerson, sure, but they're supposed to be dead!"

"No. Look at the second file." I urged. This was too important for Delsin to diss off.

He gave me a strange look before dragging up the second window. His eyes narrowed. Even Olivia looked taken aback as Delsin said, "Jane Kress-Emerson? That's-"

"Their mother." Fetch agreed. "After Eugene found her on the U.S. Census-"

"Woah Eugene, you hacked into the government mainframe and got into the Census?" I needed meekly. Delsin looked impressed.

"What a stud."

"Agreed," Fetch laughed. "Anyway, I looked her up on the D.U.P. computer. Apparently, she died a long time ago. The government was tracking her down because she was wreaking havoc with her earth powers."

"So their mother was a Conduit too?" Delsin leaned back on the couch.

"Yeah," I continued. "This was about seven years ago. Kyra was eighteen, but Maia was only twelve. After the whole explosion thing that killed a lot of Conduits, Jane and her daughters were some of the only Conduits left. The government needed Jane gone, and Augustine assured the government she could take care of it. The government was still reluctant to fund the D.U.P., so I think she needed to convince them that it was the right choice."

"Right. And so," Fetch continued. "The activity report didn't tell us everything. But, it did tell us that Augustine accidentally killed Jane."

"What?" Delsin leapt up in outrage. "Augustine told me not a single Conduit was killed after she came around!"

"Well, Augustine wasn't the most truthful person around, was she, moron?" Olivia snapped. It was the first time I heard Olivia talk, and I stared as she forcefully tugged Delsin back down. She seemed a lot stronger than she looked.

"Sit back down and let him finish the damn story."

Delsin opened his mouth to retort, but Olivia flashed him a warning look, and Delsin sighed and nodded for Fetch to continue. Fetch glared at Olivia for a while.

"Anyway," She said, her eyes still staring down Olivia, who met her glare with equal fire. "The U.S. report said that Augustine reported in, saying she was forced to terminate Jane and the daughters, since the children showed signs of a suspected Bio-terrorist. I think from that day on, Augustine vowed never to kill another Conduit again."

"But she didn't terminate them, did she?"

"No. She killed Jane, but Fetch and I are positive Kyra and Maia got away. Augustine maybe tried to capture them, but it went wrong and ended up firing a piece of concrete shrapnel through Jane. We don't know how, but I'm sure that they're still out there." I finished.

"I'm pretty sure the report is pure bullshit." Fetch blurted. "But we need the real answers. How did Kyra and Maia escape?"

"Hold up. We don't even know if Kyra and Maia are actually alive. Heck, are you implying that they're the two thieves we've been hearing about?" Delsin said, flabbergasted.

"That's exactly what we're saying." Fetch said. "Think about it. They were misfits in a world that wanted them gone. They managed to scrape by, trying to stay out of the D.U.P. radar. But after they all went to hell, they felt safe again. But they were forced to steal because they were-or are-desperate people who are trying to survive. They probably just ate from the trash or something. But after the threat of the D.U.P. was gone, why not go for something more?"

This made the room go silent. Finally, Olivia hopped off the armrest and stretched.

"Well, I think that makes things simpler for us."

"Huh?" I looked at her, eyebrows knitted in confusion.

Olivia told us the events of Mercer Island, with Delsin adding in some additional commentary. I leaned back, hearing about the girl with light and illusion powers and the menacing nightmare who placed Olivia and Delsin in the clutches of paranoia and fear.

"Here's her picture. I couldn't get a shot of the nightmare girl, but I got a blurry one of the other one." Olivia tossed her phone to me, and I fumbled as it slipped straight through my hands and onto my lap. Blushing, I snatched it up and looked at the picture. Those eyes...I knew them from somewhere...

"I know her!" I blurted with a gasp. Immediately, six eyes were all on me. It made me squirm in my skin, but I was positive that this was the girl I met, back in the Lantern District.

"You know her? From where?" Fetch leaned in, trying to get a good peek at the picture.

"She-she found my room back in the Lantern District. By accident. I think she needed a place to sleep or hide, because she looked exhausted. She was really shaky-not even nervous. More like she was afraid of me."

"Afraid? Of you?" Delsin held back a snigger, but Olivia jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Anyway, she said she was a Conduit too. She wouldn't say anything else. I almost got her name, but she caught herself and ran. Started with Ma-" My eyes widened as I realized what I was saying.

"Delsin, Olivia. I met Maia Emerson in the Lantern District. Which means you ran into her and Kyra at Mercer Island."

The silence was thick with tension, as Delsin looked at me disbelievingly.

"How are you so sure?"

"Delsin, you know it's true." By the look on his face, he did know.

"Before we get any further into this," Olivia stood up. "Shouldn't we start from the beginning? On how they escaped?"

"How do we find that out? Jane's dead and Kyra and Maia are running wild." Fetch snorted.

Olivia's lips quirked into an impish smile. "But there's one other person who was there at Jane's death."

My eyes widened. "No. You don't mean..."

Olivia nodded. "We got to go talk to Augustine."


	10. Chapter 10-Visiting the Concrete Queen

**A/C: Just for clarification, I only watched the walkthrough of InFamous:Second son. I'm currently watching the DLC walkthrough to learn more about Fetch, but 'till then, I might slip up on some parts. Also my crush on Eugene is unreal kthxbye.**

**Olivia's POV**

I zoomed away on the motorcycle rental, using my last few bucks Crystal had given me before she left. Delsin had thought I was crazy when I insisted riding without a helmet. "Hey, I'm a Conduit." I said, shrugging as I hopped onto my sweet new ride. "A bump to the head means nothing!" Before he could protest, I revved it up and sped off.

I titled my head back, the cool air whipping my hair around my face. The tightness of the city, with its narrow roads and alleys, made me feel trapped-like trying to escape a sealed box. Hopefully I wasn't here for too long. I could relocate somewhere else-like Oregon. Crystal told me that an outdoors, claustrophobic nut like me would love Salem-nice neighborhood, easy living (and breathing), and lacking the superficiality of the cities.

But I wasn't quite ready to settle down yet.

As I drove to the government prison Eugene had mentioned, I thought about the people I had met here. Of course, I knew Fetch, Eugene, and Delsin-they were national heroes, bla bla, all that junk. But they...weren't quite what I expected.

Fetch was levelheaded, calm, collected. Opposite of reckless, stubborn, feisty me. (Hey, it gets things done.) It was hard to imagine she used to murder drug dealers as tribute to her dead brother. Eugene-well, he was cute, in a nerdy, geeky shy kind of way. And Delsin...?

I shook my head. I couldn't-didn't want to-think about Delsin. He was funny, and pretty good-looking, and he was braver than almost anyone I knew. sure, but...gah. Think happy thoughts, Olivia. Happy, happy.

But how did he know my name?

I shook my head. Never mind. It didn't matter. That wasn't my name anymore. Hana Choi was gone. Hana was the innocent little daughter of a wealthy businessman and a loving housewife. Hana was the naïve little girl who was clueless about who she was.

But I am Olivia Price. I know who I am.

I arrived at the gates of the government penitentiary long before the others. There were no guards at the entrance, even though this particular detention center housed over a hundred of some of the most dangerous criminals alive-including Augustine.

I shook my head in disgust, wondering why the moron didn't just go and kill her. She deserved to die, for what she did to Conduits. She called it saving us?

Bullshit.

Seeing as the other three wouldn't be here anytime soon, I decided to get the interrogation started and headed inside. The others probably would be pissed I got the party started without them, but hey, their punishment for being tardy.

I waltzed right in, and the guard at the desk looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"I need to talk to Brooke Augustine." I stated simply, barely giving the guy a glance as I looked around.

"Why?" The guard said. I glared at him over my shoulder. Just let me talk to the damn woman, bozo.

"Have some unfinished business with her," as all I said.

"Don't we all," The guard rolled his eyes, but nodded. "I'll show you the way." He stood up and muttered into the walkie-talkie clipped to his shoulder. "Bring Brooke Augustine to the first stall on floor one. Another person with unfinished business."

I resisted the urge to keep my hands from glowing with my powers. Better to be on good terms with these people. Sure, Augustine had never tortured me, but...I could almost feel the pressure of those handcuffs once again, the D.U.P. guards staring at me venomously. The only thing that kept me sane was Crystal.

But now she was gone too.

I scowled as the guard led me to those stalls where you talk to prisoners. I never thought it'd be me on the other side of the glass, I thought as I sat down and slipped on the headphones.

A minute later, a guard appeared, gripping a woman's arm. A mix of satisfaction and bitterness swept up through me at the state of the once great Queen Augustine-her hair was no longer in her severe bun, now hanging loose around her shoulders. Her face was etched with many lines, and her eyes, those eyes that could once pin anyone down with a force harder than any concrete, was shattered and broken. She was wearing an orange prisoner's suit, and her hands were cuffed with the D.U.P. ones.

On normal circumstances, I would have laughed. Sweet karma come to bite back on the ass! But seeing Augustine, once so, so powerful, once so fear-inducing that Conduits trembled at the sound of her name, and now...

"Well, how does it feel being the prisoner for a change?" I asked quietly, leaning back in my chair..

Augustine glared at me, but I wasn't afraid. Not anymore. I was done being afraid a long time ago.

"Who are you? Another Bio-terrorist? Come to gloat about Delsin Rowe's victory?" Augustine growled. Even in chains, Concrete Queen still had a heart of steel. Something about her now seemed scarier than when she was all-powerful. It made me feel shaky inside.

"No." I leaned forward in my seat, elbows perched on my knees. "I'm here to ask questions."

Augustine gave me a vicious, quick smile. "Go ahead. I've got nothing to lose now."

I suddenly thought of how she must have felt-the future she had planned for her nation, her glorious plan-taken down by three rogue Conduits. How had she felt, when her throne was suddenly yanked out from under her? She really did have nothing to lose, because she had already lost everything.

But back to what I really came for.

"Kyra and Maia Emerson. Daughters of Jane-Kress Emerson, who died seven years ago."

There was a sudden change to Augustine's expression, so violent it struck like lightning without warning. Her face twisted with rage and regret. "I don't know what you're talking about," She hissed through stiff lips.

"Don't even try lying to me, Concrete Queen." My eyes narrowed as I gripped the counter with growing intensity. "You know who I'm talking about. You preached to Delsin about how you were a hero to Conduits, saving them. 'Not a single Conduit has been killed since the D.U.P. was formed.' You remember that?"

Augustine is silent, only glaring at me from behind a curtain of red hair. I glared back with equal verve. As intimidating as she still was, I was no pushover. I was getting answers, whether she liked it or not.

"Yet, you didn't lie. There were no Conduit deaths before the D.U.P. officially began. But what about before, hm? How about seven years ago, when you were forced to terminate Jane and her daughters? The great Brooke Augustine, murdering a whole family-including a twelve-year-old girl, for what? The sake of her country's trust?"

"It was more than that," Augustine's voice was strained and tight. "I needed the government to see that they _needed _my D.U.P. Of course, the Conduits were too thickheaded to thank me. What I did, I did for the good of our kind."

"_Our kind?" _I snarled. "No, you're nothing like me. You say how you're a savior, saving countless Conduits by putting them behind the walls of Curdun Cay. And that's true. But what's not true? You say you're giving your kind a chance to live. But we weren't living back in that hellhole. We were prisoners, and you tested us with-with your _experiments, _and you branded us as misfits just so your precious D.U.P. could flourish! So people would support your cause!" I took a deep breath, feeling shaky from the fury that had rocked my bones just moments ago. Fighting for an even tone, I said, "With that said, all your arguments are invalid and I am allowed to interrogate you as I please."

Augustine opened her mouth, but snapped it shut. Something came over her eyes-like a veil of realization, like she had just now seen the huge flaws in what she thought was her perfect plan. I couldn't help letting a smug smirk trail over my lips. 1-0 Olivia!

"Anything you wanna say before I begin?"

"How do you know about Jane Kress-Emerson?" Augustine said tiredly. Like she just wanted to get this over with now.

"Simple. I heard about the two thieves rampaging across the country, one thing led after another, and then woop-de-doo, my fri-" I caught myself before I said _friends. _"My, um...some people told me a brilliant theory that Maia and Kyra Emerson may just be the infamous duo of crime. We couldn't get enough out of that Conduit activity report. So," I leaned back, making a shrugging gesture. "Here I am."

Augustine was silent, staring at me through the glass. Finally, she let out a resigned sigh and nodded. "Fine. Ask your questions."

"Describe exactly what happened seven years ago. That's all I'm asking." I stated simply.

"That report told you your answer. I had to terminate the family."

"You're lying," I narrowed my eyes. "I thought we establish that we're to be completely honest here."

"What if I disagree?" Augustine's voice now had an edge to it, like she was sick of a 23-year-old Asian chick pushing her around. She probably already had enough of that from Delsin.

"Then I don't think the guards would mind if I decided to come straight to your face and interrogate you in the less pleasant way. You are a national disgrace, after all." Bam! Augustine's face closed off, then she stiffly nodded.

"All right. Then no. The two daughters escaped." Augustine sounded somewhat relieved, as if she were glad that they had made it out alive, or that she was finally getting this off her chest. Finally! We were getting somewhere.

But seriously, where was Delsin and the others? They shoulda been here ages ago...

Never mind. Probably traffic. Whatever was happening, I should get stuff done to make things easier.

"How did they escape?"

"I..." Augustine sighed, straining for the seven-year-old memory. "I was forced to battle Jane. She refused to come quietly. My Concrete powers were still underdeveloped, and she had had years of toying with her powers. I didn't know she had daughters. But..."

"But what?" I asked, impatient to get the answers.

Augustine glared at me, as if scolding me to keep my patience. "Anyway," she continued. "She was too powerful for me. She kept blocking off my Concrete attacks with her Earth shields and covering my hands with rock. While she had my powers closed off, she yelled, and-and two girls ran out of nowhere. The tallest one was holding her little sister's hand as they ran...I tried to stop them, and aimed to capture the oldest as the rock on my hands broke. But Jane-she jumped in the way. It hit her straight in the chest. Before I could register what had happened, the older girl screamed. "You killed her," she shrieked." Augustine closed her eyes, and I was completely shocked as a tear made its way down her sharp cheekbone. ""You killed our mother," And before I could react, she just...she just lost it."

"What do you mean?" My voice lost its cocky edge. I was too intrigued by the story.

"The younger girl was screaming for the older one to calm down, but the older sister just went psychotic. All the shadows of the buildings began to intensify, creeping towards me. My own shadow-it seemed to manifest into something real, pulling me down as the older girl began to float in this cloud of-of black energy. Just being near it made my worst fears flash before my eyes. Then all the shadows began to encase me, and that's...all I remember...except falling into a terrible, terrible nightmare."

I was in awe. It was similar to what the girl had done to Delsin and I. So those girls on the rooftop...they really were Kyra and Maia.

"That's what you came for, isn't it? Well, that's it. But first, tell me this, _Hana Choi-"_

In an instant, I was on my feet, my eyes blazing. _"Don't you dare call me that."_

"Oh, but that's who you are." Augustine barreled on before I could retort. "I remember you. You were sent to my prison. An innocent little girl, abandoned and betrayed by those she loved just because they were afraid of her. Afraid because she was a Bio-terrorist."

"You shut the hell up." My veins began to flow with new rage as I fought tears. The memories I had tried so hard to forget, tried so hard to repress, came rushing back-my father's disgusted look, my mother's tears, the fear of my friends as they all looked away...

"But don't you see? Yes, Conduits say they suffered in my prison. People now praise the Second Age, saying it will begin a new era where normals and Conduits can coexist in harmony. But things won't change so easily. Delsin Rowe may have convinced Seattle, but he has not convinced me. And I am sure many people across the nation agree with me. Everyone will leave you, Hana Choi."

"That's a lie. I made a friend, more than a friend. She stuck by me through all your bullshit." I spat.

"Oh," Augustine gave me a sympathetic and knowing look. "But she left you too, didn't she?"

It happened so fast. One minute Augustine was sitting in her chair, smirking at me, the next, there was a hole in the glass, edged with ice. Augustine was laying on the floor, coughing up water, her hair dripping. There was a huge puddle on the floor.

I lowered my hand, breathing hard. The guard at the door came rushing for me, but I said quickly, "You think you know Conduits, but let me tell you this. You think we're weak. We can't fend for ourselves. You need to protect us. You think we all have some sob story and have to live with the fact that we're freaks. But rest assured, we Conduits are some kickass heroes, and they can defeat _anything, _and not just with their powers, but because they have the strength to overcome anything, even you. Delsin Rowe, Eugene Sims, and Abigail Walker can tell you that."

"Olivia!"

I whipped around, and my heart dropped when I saw a very awestruck-looking Delsin, Eugene, and Abigail. Delsin's eyes wandered from me, to Augustine, to me again.

"You-you did that?" He blinked. I looked back at Augustine's face, fixed with a hard stare, then looked back and shrugged.

"Yeah." I said impassively, like it was nothing.

"Why didn't you wait for us? Why did you just go ahead and start flying off the handle?" Now he was angry. He grabbed my arm and began dragging me to the door, throwing an apologetic look at the speechless guard at the desk before the cool, outdoors air hit my face again. Good. It was getting too stuffy in there.

"I didn't mean to!" I insisted, biting my lip as Delsin roughly let go of my arm. That guy had one hell of an iron grip. "She just has a serious talent for provoking people."

"You think?" Delsin sighed in frustration. "Well, you went and finished everything, didn't you? Let's hear it."

I explained everything Augustine had told me to the triad of Conduits. When I had finished, Delsin shook his head in disbelief. "So, the two thieves are Kyra Emerson, who apparently has the power to control darkness and apparently fear, and then Maia, who can control...light and create illusions?"

"Guess so." I then realized how difficult it would really be to capture these Conduits-they even sounded powerful, and even with three of the most powerful Conduits I know on the hunt-well, it would be a challenge.

Even Delsin seemed to think this, because he said, "Then how in the hell's name are we going to find them? The thing on Mercer Island was a stroke of luck."

"Well, we track down their not-so-stealthy affiliates and pick up clues." I said, and a mental image of Crystal's face brought a smile to mine.

"And I know exactly where to start."


	11. Chapter 11-The Intruders

**Fetch's POV**

"Boston?" Delsin's eyes widened as I began booking the trip on the airplane website. "That's a solid 5 hour trip!"

"Five hours and five minutes exactly, according to Google Maps." Olivia added.

"Thank you for the unnecessary commentary, Oli." Delsin rolled his eyes, and Olivia shrugged. Oli? Since when did he have a nickname for her? But I bought four plane tickets, leaving for next morning. I looked out the window of Delsin's apartment. The sun was slowly beginning to sink below the horizon.

"If Olivia's right, we'll be able to find her friend in Boston. Where, I don't know, but we have to be careful about what we do. There's a bunch of historical sites, and I'd rather not cause a lot of destruction." I reminded them. Eugene nodded in agreement, and the rest nodded assent.

Olivia was perched next to Delsin on the couch. Of course it bothered me, but Olivia knew Delsin the best out of all of us. Still, that didn't stop me from getting ticked off. Delsin hadn't had time for me and Eugene-it's been Olivia, Olivia, Olivia. Sheesh, he's only known the chick for four days!

I held in my sigh of frustration as I finished speed-booking the plane. "Done," I said, handing Eugene back his laptop. He had been slightly irritated when I asked for it-it _was _his precious laptop-but he's been a good sport. Eugene was a good kid.

And Delsin? Well...I think it was obvious how I felt for Delsin. But how could he be so blind?

Delsin was my best friend. He reminded me of Brent so strongly-the same unbreakable loyalty, the same comfort they brought when I needed it. But there was more than that. I just didn't know what.

And my thoughts about Olivia were clear.

"D, can we talk?" I said, standing up and stretching. Delsin looked at Eugene, and Eugene only shrugged as Delsin stood. I beckoned for him to follow me outside the apartment and into the hallway.

"Yeah, what's up?" Delsin put his hands in his pockets.

"D, I don't trust Olivia." I stated quite bluntly. Delsin sighed and looked over his shoulder, as if afraid Olivia might be eavesdropping.

"Fetch, if she wanted to kill me, she would have done it by now." He said tiredly.

"That's not it." I insisted. "I just-she seems too eager to help. What if she's working with the thieves? And she's just leading us straight to them as a trap? I mean, we're too powerful for her, but what if she needs help?"

Delsin didn't seem convinced, only raising a brow at me. He looked slightly annoyed. "Fetch, I know you don't like her, but even if she did betray us, we're three of the most powerful Conduits alive right now. Sure, the thieves might be a problem, but we put up a hella good fight. If anything like that happens, we'll train constantly. But for now, I trust Oli. She just wants to find her friend and track down the thieves."

"Says she." I muttered. "But D, she's too...hotheaded. She totally flew off the handle with her interrogation with Augustine, and didn't tell us why. I knew Augustine probably provoked her in some way," I spoke before Delsin could defend her, "But first, she's not telling us something. Something happened when she went to talk to Augustine, but she's keeping it from us. She's reckless, she's stubborn, and quite frankly, rude and sarcastic." The words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. Delsin looked at me for a long time, no expression, just staring at me.

"Fetch-"

"Forget it, D." I gave up, throwing my hands up in frustration. "Do as you please." I brush past him and slip into my apartment, locking the door. He doesn't knock, which both disappoints and relieves me. Instead, I can hear him slowly walking back to his own home, as if hoping I would come back out.

I didn't.

**Delsin's POV**

"Oh Jesus." Eugene muttered, looking pale as the plane began to move.

"Huh? What's wrong?" I looked over, and Eugene was gripping the armrests so tightly, his knuckles were white. He sat stiffly, and his face had the most panicked expression I'd ever seen. I should have been concerned, but in all honesty, it was kinda funny.

"Aw, c'mon Teen Angel, don't tell me you haven't been on a plane before," Fetch teased, leaning forward to peer over me at Eugene. Things seemed normal again between me and Fetch-this morning, she seemed as bright and cheery as ever. Olivia was behind us, trapped next to the window next to a beefy, bald-headed man who kept glancing at her with a dirty smirk on his face. She had looked less than pleased at the seating arrangement, but I peeked back, and she was covering herself with her jacket, her arms crossed and looking out the window, sitting stiffly. She was wearing a long green trench coat and dark stonewashed jeans with worn sneakers. She gave me a pissed-off look, jutted her chin subtly in the man's direction, and stuck up her pointer finger and thumb in the shape of a gun, pointed it at her head, and made a tiny sound effect, like _pew. _I chuckled as I turned back around. She'd be fine.

"Well, the thing is...I haven't." Eugene admitted meekly, and he almost lost it as the plane lurched slowly. We were going airborne.

"OH SWEET JESUS, WE'RE OFF THE GROUND!" Eugene yelped loudly, and the other passengers gave him a strange look as he whimpered, not daring to take his hands off the armrests.

"My God, you've never been on an airplane before?" Fetch blinked in actual surprise.

"N-no." Eugene whimpered. He had been so excited this morning-he had woken up earlier than anyone else, and a ridiculous grin on his face. And when we had boarded the plane, he had bounced a little in his seat. "I can't believe I'm on a plane!" He had whispered. I never would have assumed he never actually had been on one.

"But you were so happy this morning!" I reminded him teasingly, nudging him with an elbow. Eugene was clearly fighting a bout of panic, squeezing his eyes shut.

"You'llbeokayYou'llbeokayYou'llbeokay." He murmurered over and over again as the plane continued to ascend. Fetch and I exchanged a look, eyes full of laughter, but we didn't actually laugh, for Eugene's sake.

"Whatever you do, just don't turn back into Teen Angel and go Dwells-Does-He loco. Last thing we need is you flying out the plane." Fetch snorted.

"It's "He Who Dwells"!" Eugene hissed from tight lips.

"Same thing." Fetch yawned and stretched, almost hitting me in the face with her hand. "Oops, sorry D. Gonna catch some Z's so I don't arrive at Boston cranky." She yawned, pulled out one of the complimentary airplane pillows from under her butt, and shoved it behind her head as she shifted around, trying to get comfy. Great. My two companions were such help-one with a budding fear of planes, the other beginning to nod off.

"Eugene, how 'bout you try to get some sleep, too? We're getting there by, like, 10:00 p.m." I suggested gently.

"And wake up dead?" Eugene squeaked.

"Well, if you were dead, you wouldn't wake up at all." I pointed out. But Eugene ignored this as he tried to steady his breathing.

The attendant's smooth voice came over the intercom, announcing that we were now officially airborne and her voice reminded us of airplane safety rules. I ignored her, as I slipped in my ear buds. The plane had a complimentary free movie service-might as well take advantage of it.

As I tapped the touchscreen planted in the back of the seat front of me, I heard murmurs behind me.

"What's a pretty lil' thing like you doing on this plane alone, sweetheart?" I heard the gross guy say in a smooth voice.

"I'm with them." I heard Olivia say coldly. By them, I was assuming she meant us. I paused in my movie-hunting as I listened in, ready to intervene if Olivia did something rash.

"Oh, but they look busy. How about you, me, meet up in the bathroom, eh? No one will afta know about it."

"In your dreams, dickhead." Olivia spat. My muscles tensed.

"Oh, no need to get feisty." I looked over my shoulder subtly. The guy was leaning towards Olivia as she reciprocated by leaning away, squishing her shoulder into the window.

"Have a little fun, hm?" The guy's hand creeped towards her thigh. That was enough.

"Hey!" I snarled. The guy jumped, his hand shooting back. "Leave her alone. She's with us."

"Aw yeah?" The guy stuck up his chin. "And who're you, kid?"

"Delsin Rowe. And my friends, Abigail Walker and Eugene Sims. Maybe you've heard of them." Oosh! The guy's eyes widened in recognition, and scowled as he turned away, sulking.

"Thanks," Olivia mouthed, looking gratified.

"Don't mention it," I whispered back. Something hit my shoulder. I looked around, thinking it was Fetch. and it was-but not what I was expecting. She had fallen asleep, and her head had lolled onto my shoulder. It was one of those romantic poses you see in the movies, but when I looked down, I couldn't ignore how...cute Fetch looked in her sleep.

Praying she wouldn't wake up, I slowly brought my hand up and stroked her hair gently. She didn't stir.

"Do you like her?" I looked to my side. Eugene still looked nauseated and rather worse for wear, but his eyes kept switching from Fetch, to me, to Fetch, then to me again.

"Of course. She's my best friend."

"Not like that." Eugene stared at me over the rim of his glasses, and heat flooded my face. Yes, I knew exactly what he was asking, but it was an absurd thought. She was my best friend, not a girlfriend. We were better off good friends.

"I do, but..." I hesitated. "Don't tell her, okay? We're better off just being good friends."

"But she-" Eugene's sentence was interrupted by a horrible shriek. I brought my hands up and clasped them over my ears, but the sound-like metal scraping against metal magnified ten times-still sliced my ears.

Fetch woke immediately, jolting up and covering her ears, face contorted with pain. Eugene's panicked state immediately returned, yelling as he shrank into his seat, trying to cover his ears desperately.

"What the hell is that?" I hollered, but my voice was lost in the continuing noise.

Then, the plane began to fall.

What was happening?! The sound finally stopped, and the plane instantly filled with noise again, panicked yells, the crying of children, and the flight attendants trying to calm everyone down. Eugene was trying to keep calm, but I could tell that he was about to puke. Fetch, usually always levelheaded, was gripping my arm tightly, a frightened expression on her face.

A cloud of mist flew past me and stopped in the aisle, and it materialized to become Olivia. "HEY!" She screamed. Instantly, all activity stopped, as over a hundred frightened eyes locked onto her. Olivia looked shaky and scared, but her voice was steady and strong.

"What happened to the pilot?!" Olivia turned her attention to the flight attendant, who was emerging from the pilot's cabin. There was silence as she dragged herself out, and as she looked up, there was a collective gasp. There was a huge gash across her head, bleeding profusely.

"Dead." The woman whispered, and then collapsed. The plane instantly fell into chaos again, but Olivia stomped her foot, and a wave of water swept through the cabin. I was immediately doused with ice-cold cold. Splutters and gasps echoed around the plane as the passengers sobered up. However, through the absolute silence, I could hear faint whispers. "Bio-terrorist..."

"Calm down! If we fall into the water, I can control it! We'll be safe! And I'll find out what's happened, dammit!" Olivia whipped around and began to walk briskly up the aisle when something landed on the roof so hard Olivia stumbled and fell, sliding into the seat next to her. I attempted to stand, my heart pounding in my ears, but the plane was rocking too hard. Finally, a hole ripped through the roof of the plane, and I gasped as frigid air filled the plane. It swept through me so suddenly I lost my breath.

Two figures jumped through the hole and into the plane. From what I could tell from their turned backs, one was a shorter girl, with long blonde hair, the other a tall guy. The girl walked up to Olivia, who was gripping the seat, trying to drag herself up.

Olivia looked up and her eyes widened, looking as if the world had been yanked out from under her.

"Crystal?"

"Hi, Olivia. Sorry we have to do this." Crystal grabbed Olivia by the front of her jacket and gripped the guy's shoulder.

In a flash of color, they were gone as the plane fell down to the Earth.


	12. Chapter 12-The Aftermath

**A/C: This chapter is really boring, sorry. I just didn't have the heart to timeskip, so I promise next chapter should be something good.**

"Fuck, Delsin! What do we do?" Fetch screamed as the plane began to plummet.

"Eugene, could you summon Angels to stop this thing?" I yelled over the screams of panicked passengers. The noise, the panic running wild, and our current dilemma was making my heart pound in my ears, making it that much harder for me to concentrate.

"I could, but I don't have enough time to summon an army big enough to stop this thing!" Eugene replied, as he attempted to stand, which was a stupid thing to do. He kept falling back in his seat as the plane plummeted.

"FIRST, EVERYBODY GRAB YOUR LIFEJACKETS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The passengers immediately scrambled for the pouch under their seats. My mind was racing at a thousand miles per hour, trying to process everything. Even Fetch and Eugene were looking expectantly at me. _I _was the leader, and I had to help these people out.

"We might not be able to avoid a crash, but we could slow it down so this thing doesn't explode like a Molotov!" Fetch yelled. "But that would require too much manpower! And right now, we only have three! Well, two if you count womanpower in my case."

"Does this plane have parachutes?" I yelled to a nearby attendant. She shook her head frantically. Well, crappy service. _Think, Delsin, think! _

"We're over land! We could crash right into Ohio!" The attendant shrieked. Thing was, where in Ohio?! It didn't matter-the plane was going too fast to have a safe landing. People were going to die if I didn't think of something soon.

Suddenly, the plane stopped in midair. The shrieks of the people on board slowly died, terror replaced with confusion. It wasn't a smooth halt, and wasn't a screeching jolt-it just stopped. My heart was still pumping rapidly, but I let out a sigh of relief. Whatever was happening, at least we were safe. The only sound left in the plane were the confused, panicked wails of babies and little kids, and I could hear their parents shakily trying to shush them. Everyone was holding in their breath, the frightened tension in the small space almost suffocating. What now?

The plane slowly, slowly began to descend. It still looked as if it were going to crash, but at more than half the speed than before. It was like it slow-motion.

"What's happening?" Eugene whispered. I looked at him, and by his strained facial expression I could tell he would never again step foot in a plane.

"I don't know." I admitted. I looked out the window. There seemed to be a large, blue-tinted shell surrounding the whole plane. At first, I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion, but realization dawned on me as we began our descent.

"We're in a bubble," I said.

"What?!" Fetch scrambled over me to take a look. "But, how?"

"Only person I know who can do that is Olivia." I sighed with relief, thankful that she still had our back, despite being rudely kidnapped. I looked over. Fetch was breathing heavily, eyes wide and darting around. I knew she seldom had any panic attacks anymore, but she looked pretty freaked out.

"Hey, hey." I cupped her face with my hands gently. "Look at me." Her eyes finally settled on me and locked on to me, brown eyes meeting green. "Happy thoughts. Happy memories. We'll be okay." I continued to reassure her in a soothing voice before I felt her pulse slow considerably, and her shoulders relaxed.

"You okay?" I said, dropping my hands. Fetch was turning a little red-probably from the pressure.

"Y-yeah." She sighed. Her arm patted around in an almost flail-like manner before she found my hand. She wrapped her fingers around mine and tightened her grip.

"Whatever happens guys, we got each other. The Studsome Threesome, remember?" I said, squeezing Fetch's hand reassuringly. Eugene finally managed a weak smile, and Fetch let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah. Together." She said, squeezing back.

"And if anything happens, we have a buttload of Angels, hot pink explosions, and a variety of things on my part." I grinned, trying to ease the tension. But I was just as scared as they felt. Anything could happen, at any time.

I peered out the tiny, circular window. We were slowly nose-diving into a small city. How Olivia was managing to do this when she was currently captive, I had no idea.

It occurred to me, then and there, how close we had skimmed the border of utter death. It would be the most brutal way to die, with our mission incomplete. We couldn't let our guard down, not again. We had to be prepared for these psycho Conduits.

I realize how exhausted I am from all this. If I thought battling Augustine was bad, almost getting totally annihilated in an almost-plane crash was way worse. These two thieves and their allies were going to be a lot more trouble than I thought. If only two could take down an entire plane...

I shuddered. I didn't want to think about it.

There was a soft splashing noise as the plane made contact with the reservoir. The people on board began awkwardly cheering, but the asshole who had been sitting next to Olivia jumped up.

"This plane crash would never have happened if it weren't for those Bio-terrorists." He snarled, his face completely red. The cheers died at his words. Uh oh. Gotta think.

"We were just attacked by two Bio-terrorists! Is anyone going to mention that?" The man swiveled around, looking for supporters. A few other people nodded thoughtfully. Some mothers were simply trying to calm down their frightened children, but they seemed to consider his words.

"Sir, please calm down. We've all been through a terrible ordeal, but-" One of the flight attendants tried, but the man cut her off with a wave of his arm.

"Calm down? We coulda all died! We were attacked!"

"Not attacked. No one's dead, right?" Fetch piped up.

"Fetch," I hissed in warning, trying to pull her back, but she pulled away.

"They just kidnapped our friend. We're just as upset about this as any of you, but at least we're alive. Besides, the slowing down of the plane? That was no coincidence. That was the work of Conduits. Some almost killed us, sure, but some saved us."

A few people nodded, considering her words. The man opened his mouth to speak, but Fetch shook her head and said, "Look, we're just going to find our friend. We'll alert the people on land about this. Just stay put and wait for help."

There were a couple of loud protests, but the rest just nodded tiredly. I couldn't imagine how these people had been feeling. I was still trying to calm down myself, my heart refusing to slow down.

"Guys, let's go. We can tell the police or something about the crash and then look for...Olivia." Fetch's voice dropped to a soft growl at Olivia's name. I resisted an eye roll and slugged her shoulder.

"You like me. C'mon." Fetch snorted at the old joke as I stood up and realized how shaky my legs were. I almost fell again, but I took a deep breath. Get it together, Delsin.

"You guys know where we are in Ohio?" I grumbled as we slowly made our way down the aisle. I could feel the stares of a hundred terrified, angry people burning into our backs.

"No clue. One thing's for sure, it's going to take a hella long time to get to Boston." I sighed through my nose tiredly. Fetch nodded in agreement. Eugene was quiet, probably still recovering from the trauma.

We got to the door next to the pilot's cabin. As soon as we passed, Fetch halted suddenly.

"Fetch?" She backtracked her steps, peering into the pilot cabin.

"Guys!" She called. Eugene and I exchanged a look before coming in after her. Fetch is kneeling next to the body of the pilot, still in his seat, arms hanging lifelessly off the sides, and two dead flight attendants, laying on the ground. I bit my lip, trying to stay calm.

"Look," Fetch beckoned us towards the body of the pilot. His head was tilted to the side, eyes wide in shock. But what surprised me most was the huge chink of glass piercing his chest, straight over his heart. It was the size of my hand and shaped like a crude dagger.

"Check the attendants' bodies." Fetch's voice was tight-I knew she hated seeing the deaths of innocent people. Didn't we all?

I walked over to a tall attendant lying next to the pilot, her severe brown bun now with hairs hanging AWOL, her eyes wide open. I flipped her over gently and bit my lip. A large piece of steel, in a similar fashion of the glass, was buried in her stomach area. Blood was still blossoming around the wound.

"We should get the bodies out before anything else. Don't want the kids onboard to see." I slid my hands under the attendant's body and lifted her up. Eugene summoned an Angel. The Angel silently picked up the pilot, and Fetch carried the last attendant with some difficulty.

Fetch raised her hand and blasted open the door with a neon beam. Pink smoke hissed from the edges of the hole left behind.

"Coulda been more subtle, but..." I muttered as we stepped outside. It was nighttime, around 9 p.m. We should've been at Boston by 10.

I looked down at the attendant in my arms and my throat tightened. Those Conduits willingly killed innocent people, I thought as I closed her eyes.

Why did they want Olivia?

"Glass and metal. Strange." Fetch, Eugene, and I were boarded on the bus headed straight to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, deciding to go bus-hopping. Fetch leaned back in her seat, rubbing her neck. "Think those are their powers?"

"I'm guessing the guy is glass and metal. I remember in Olivia's memory, she said Crystal controlled memories themselves. She can't be glass." I considered this. It was rare, almost unheard of, of Conduits with more than one specific power. Even if they did, those extra abilities would somehow be related to their primary power. But glass? It didn't really fit any of them.

"I don't know, Delsin. Maybe there was a third Conduit who just didn't show him or herself?" Eugene suggested. But I didn't believe it, even though it seemed more sensible. When I had pulled the metal shard out from the attendant's body, I could feel the steel thrumming, which had told me this was no ordinary metal-this was metal conjured by a Conduit. (Yeah, power absorption Conduits are cool like that.) I could just tell it had only been the guy and Crystal. I couldn't explain how, but...

"What I'm really asking is, why did they need Olivia so badly they endangered a plane full of citizens? I wouldn't be surprised if the thieves didn't care." Fetch scoffed. "Coulda waited until we got to the airport, at least. Rude."

I chuckled, and shrugged. "Well, next stop: Boston."


	13. Chapter 13-Glass and Crystals

**Olivia's POV**

"Nyahhh..."

The very vibrations of my groans hook my chest painfully. I was on a soft mattress, and as I weakly clenched my first, my fingers closed around warm, soft cloth. The memories rushed through me-a frantic plea to Crystal, holding the plane in that bubble, my hands glowing blue as the plane made a safe landing. Then-a sudden pain to the back of my head, and darkness.

"You're awake."

Crystal. Crystal!

I sat up too suddenly, and the back of my head throbbed painfully. I put a hand up and gingerly touched the back of my head. I took my hand away, the tips of my fingers dusted with dried blood. I was in a small, dim room, with a single light flickering on the ceiling. I was on a simple metal cot, with white blankets and pillows. The walls were gray-blue, and there was nothing else except two doors and scattered chairs.

I looked down at myself. I was wearing a plain black t-shirt and gym shorts. I could go a little more fashionable, but that wasn't the point.

"Crystal," I whispered.

She grinned. "Hey, Oli." It was the same long, blonde hair, the same dark blue eyes glittering with mischievousness, the same kind, heart-shaped face. Except, her grin seemed to be lacking. In what, I didn't know.

"Sorry you got knocked out so hard," Crystal huffed, leaning back. She was clad in a gray knit sweater, metallic gold leggings, and black booties. I blinked. Since when could she afford that stuff? She gave me a somewhat tired smile. Why was she tired-I was the one with dried blood on my scalp! "Oz packs a punch."

"Oz?" My eyebrows knitted, and I suddenly realized what had happened. My eyes widened and I looked around frantically. "What happened to the plane? Where's Delsin and Fetch and Eugene? Who's Oz? Why did you-"

"Oy. One at a time." Crystal leaned forward, sighing, perching her chin on her hands, elbows balanced on her knees. "The plane landed safely. Last I heard, everyone got back to land thanks to the trio. Delsin Rowe, Abigail Walker, and Eugene Sims are all fine. Ma-I saw them safely get on the bus to Boston." Crystal took a deep breath and continued with a sigh. "Oz-I mean, Oswald, he's a friend of mine. Helped me get you. Metal Conduit, he went back to Chicago though."

"But why-"

"Why did we kidnap you and endanger the whole plane?" Crystal finished. I nodded numbly.

"Well...I wanted to talk to you." Crystal said.

"Excuse me, what?" I couldn't believe my ears. She killed four people, almost killed a hundred more, sunk a plane, and to what? Have a nice chat over a cup of tea?

"I couldn't approach you at the airport. You woulda been with those three. Oz and I decided it was better to create a distraction by sinking the plane and coming to get you. We wouldn't have let those people die," She said quickly at my expression.

"That's stupid." I scoffed. I had a feeling she wasn't lying-her eyes were doing that big-pleading thing with me. Asking me to trust her. But how could I trust her?

"No, really. Oz would have ensured a safe landing-the plane is made of metals, after all. But-" Crystal stood and stretched, almost lazily. I scooted back and leaned against my pillow as she sat back down, giving me another quick smile.

"I missed you, Oli. At first, I didn't want you to come with me to find Kyra and Maia. I knew you wouldn't have agreed. But I knew what I did was selfish. I want you to travel with me. I knew you had some time to think, spent some time with the normals out there in the world. Think of the way they look at you, Oli," Crystal's voice become low and developed an edge, as if directed towards a dangerous subject. "What do you see? Kindness? Respect? No, they see a monster. You see disgust. You see scorn."

"Delsin and Abigail and Eugene changed that." I insisted. I shook away all the dirty looks, all the spat insults from surfacing. "They started the Second Age. Acceptance. Coexistence."

"They might respect the three, but although it taught them some Conduits can be heroes, it taught them something else-Conduits are more dangerous than they thought. Brooke Augustine, the sovereign queen of Concrete, thrown from her seat of power by a little boy, a drug addict, and a white gangster!"

"Delsin is _not _a gangster-"

"Point is, it proved to them that all Conduits, no matter the age or who they are, are deadly. Haven't you heard the news? Activist groups are on the rise. Opposing Conduits." Crystal's voice vibrated with growing intensity.

"No," I said, but the words felt weak in my mouth. "That's only because your..._cult, _is terrorizing the nation!"

"No. Before that. They weren't fooled by the three's performance. It only proved to them how all the normals were all in danger-three of the most powerful Conduits since Cole McGrath and the Beast's time are running loose. They don't believe in Conduits being able to live alongside regular people. They're positive it will end in a massacre!" Crystal took a breath, trying to calm herself. I sat, dumbstruck, staring at her as she inhaled deeply through her nose, and let out a _phew _through her lips.

"The point Is," She continued, on a quiet note. "Kyra and Maia were forced to steal because despite everything the three did, nothing changed for them."

"Because it's too soon-"

"Old habits die hard. Or don't die at all. Nobody forgot the Beast or Augustine. And they will never forget."

"But-"

"That's why I want to join you."

This took me off guard. I blinked, once, twice. "Um, what? No invitation to your cult?"

"No. See, there's-" Crystal caught herself quickly. What was in her eyes? Fear? Anger? "It's complicated. I'm taking a huge risk, betraying the two. At first, I thought I wanted Conduits to reign supreme-make the normals fear us. But..." Crystal sighed tiredly, and I just noticed the dark shadows under her eyes, how her usually bright ocean-blue eyes have a dim quality to it. "Now, I just want to live a regular life. Which isn't possible, but now I want to work towards it. "

Before I could say anything, Crystal cut me off abruptly.

"Now, there's something else you should know. " Crystal stood and flexed her wrist. In an instant, transparent, glinting material appeared in her palm, spinning like a disco dance. I realized it was glass.

"How? You said you could only manipulate memories...the mind..." I trailed off.

"Power sharing. A friend of mine was kind enough to share some of his power, since I can't exactly fight melee and ranged using memories. So I only use it for combat." Crystal shrugged and clenched her fist, and the glass disappeared. "It's pretty weak-he only gave me enough to fight with some standard abilities."

"Wait, also, how am I not having a bunch of memory overflow like last time?" I pressed on, remembering how just being in Crystal's presence caused my mind to go into overdrive, digging up memories so insignificant I had all but forgotten them. Now, I felt normal.

"Control." Crystal said softly, almost ironically. "Heh, it's funny. Look where we are, and I just now have control." Without warning, she makes a flinging motion, and a dagger of glass hurtles towards me. I raise my hands instinctively with a yelp, and a blob of water encases the dagger, stopping it mid-flight, and fling it towards the wall. The dagger hits the wall and shatters. The noise unnerves me as I glare at Crystal.

"What the hell?!" I snarl. "What was that for?!"

"Hmm. Not bad. Your instincts have improved." Crystal laughs and slugs me on the shoulder. "I missed ya, sister."

My face softens and my chest aches. "I missed you too. So much." I whisper. I sigh, reminiscing-the many nights we spent looking at the skylines of different cities. The map of the U.S. is now emblazoned permanently upon my mind because of my memories with her.

"But about before..." I open my eyes slowly. Time to get back to business. "About you wanting to team up with Delsin...is something happening?" Crystal's smile falters, and she inhales deeply before nodding.

"Yes...see, there's-" Before she could finish, the door burst open, and there was a blur of pure pink light before Crystal toppled to the ground, struggling, bound with cords of neon.

"Olivia! Are you okay?" Fetch stepped over Crystal's struggling form and over to me.

"Why-where?-" I stuttered, unable to form words. Crystal was beginning to scream in frustration, hoping someone would hear her. But Fetch pointed almost lazily, and a rope of neon tightened around Crystal's mouth, and she gagged around the rope.

"Is she in there, Fetch?" Delsin! He peeked around the doorway, and distantly, I could hear Eugene shuffling in the hallway, probably keeping watch.

"Yeah, she looks fine! I got the kidnapper in here, too!" Delsin stepped in and glanced at Crystal.

"This is Crystal, right?" He threw a sideways glance in my direction, and I nodded numbly. How did they find me?

"Good. We can question her for a bit then turn her in." Fetch nodded and grabbed Crystal's shoulder. Only then did I snap to my sense.

"Wait, guys-"

"It was easy enough finding you, we just tracked down your phone via GPS-" Delsin shrugged.

"That's not-"

"You got a nice cell waiting for ya back in the quarantines-" Fetch scoffed as she wrapped her hand around the cord around Crystal's chest, Crystal mumbling in protest.

A huge hand, formed from water, dripping onto the floor, materialized and slammed its fist down on the floor angrily. It exploded, and Delsin and Fetch were knocked to their feet as a tidal wave swept through the room and the water dissipated. My hand was still in a fist, the fingernails digging into my palm. I was on my feet now, standing on the bed.

"HOLD ON!" I bellowed, sick of being interrupted. Delsin and Fetch gaped at me, dumbstruck. I was breathing hard, and my face was hot with fury, impatience, and shame at my outbreak. I may be in control of my powers, but I still needed to work on my temper.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply through my nose. "Wait. A. Damn. Minute." My heartbeat slowed down, and I exhaled wearily through my lips.

"Let me explain everything before you give Crys the boot." Fetch and Delsin exchanged a look, and Delsin shrugged as they stood up.

"Alright, tsunami girl." Fetch crossed her arms. "Tell us what great discovery you've made."

I gave Fetch a quick glare before delving into the details, relaying everything Crystal had said to me. Their expressions were unreadable, a sea of conflicted emotions. When one began to surface, another would take its place, creating a mix of something like anger, shock, and what could only be described as despair.

"I thought-but I-" For once, the great, optimistic Delsin Rowe was at a least for words as he put his hands behind his head, processing everything. Fetch put a hand on his shoulder and muttered something into his ear. I watched the duo curiously. Were they dating?

"Now, will you be kind enough to release Crystal?" I asked patiently as I stepped off the bed and slid into my shoes.

"Oh, right." Fetch gave Crystal an apologetic glance as she unraveled the cords. Crystal picked herself up, and retreated into the corner, looking at Delsin and Fetch warily.

"Er-sorry." Fetch muttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. Through the corner of my eye, I could see a flash, a glint, on Crystal's wrist. Maybe a watch?

"So how did you guys get to Boston?" I continued as if it were a normal, pleasant Sunday afternoon conversation.

"Uh-a lot of bus-hopping, mostly." Delsin shrugged. "Were you-did she treat you okay?"

"Um, yeah. I was out a couple of days. Nothing bad."

"Oh. Good."

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"Sure."

We simply stood there, the awkward silence making me shift my weight. I was too wiped out to try a jab or a sarcastic comment, and it looked like Delsin was too deep in thought to bring up his usual Delsinisms. And Fetch just crossed her arms, glancing back and forth between Delsin and I like a tennis match.

"Uh-so, I'm requesting you not arrest Crystal. Or try to absorb her powers." I said after a while. This got Delsin's attention-his head snapped up.

"What? Why not?" Delsin looked over his shoulder at Crystal, who glared back at him.

"Uh-her glass/memory power? Her glass was a transfer. And memory-well, it's not exactly great combat tool. But," I added quickly, seeing Delsin's mouth open to rebut. "BUTTTT, the Prime Glass Conduit? He's in New York. In the city. Closer to Boston. Good target."

I could literally see Delsin's brain wheels turning as he considered this, and shrugged. "Fine. Next stop-New York City. Is he an...affiliate, of your 'cause' too?" He directed this question to Crystal, who had finally exited the shadows.

"Nah. He's solo. On his own." I was surprised to hear Crystal's voice, filled with confidence. What had happened to the terrified girl, in awe at the presence of _the _Abigail Walker and Delsin Rowe?(technically Eugene as well, but he was off doing whatever in the hallway.) Crystal raised her chin, gripping something in her hand.

"But, he'll train you to use his powers. I'm sure he'll be happy to lend some of his power, especially to Delsin Rowe. He's a fan." Delsin's cheeks darkened-I smiled a little, wondering how a hero like him could still be modest.

"I'm not-"

"Oh, whatever." Crystal waved his protest off. "I'll alert him, if you want. Kenny doesn't like surprises."

"Uh, sure." Delsin narrowed his eyes slightly. I gently tugged his sleeve, and he looked at me. I gave him a semi-pleading look. _You can trust her. _Delsin got the message, and sighed before nodding slowly.

"Okay. Thanks. And, um, could you give me a list of all the allies of Kyra and Maia? The people in your, er, cult? Not if you mind betraying them or anything-" Delsin meant this to be sarcastic, but Crystal shrugged.

"Sure. You should head for Kenny and then Oz-I mean, Oswald. Steel Conduit. If you want to take on Kyra and Maia, you're going to need a lot, LOT more powers. And a bunch of new allies."

"Wait, what? What do you mean?" Delsin looked taken aback at her willingness. Crystal scratched the back of her head, and glanced at me. I nodded for her to continue, and reassured, she turned back to Delsin.

"Well, see, there's a lot of turmoil going on in Kyra and Maia's cause. I'm not going to say a lot, but...well, let's just say the two have different viewpoints-and they're expecting us to take sides."

"Can you please elaborate-" Fetch's frustrated words were cut off by a sudden yell of surprise from down the hallway-then Eugene's voice calling "Del-" before it was cut short like a radio cord., followed by what I could only describe as a laser noise. Delsin's eyes widened, and the same fear resonated in me.

"Eugene." I gasped. I pushed past Delsin and Fetch, into the hallway.

"Eugene?!" I called, bringing my hands to my mouth. No answer. But I could hear faint groans, and hurriedly headed in that direction, down the corridor. I could hear Crys, Delsin, and Fetch close behind me.

"Eug-" I screeched to a halt. Eugene was lying on the ground, looking completely fazed. His clothes were steaming, little wisps rising off the gray cloth of his hoodie, and there was a huge scorch mark across his chest. What surprised me most, was that on the scorch mark, little particles of..._light _were rising from the wound and into the air, sparkling like tiny lightning bugs. The scorch mark itself had a streak across it, pure gold and shining so brightly my eyes squinted.

"Is he okay?" Crystal jogged up beside me, then paused suddenly. "Evidently not."

Delsin and Fetch turned the corner, and they were by Eugene's side in an instant. Fetch gingerly felt the wound, and Eugene groaned. His glasses were lopsided, and Fetch quickly corrected them. Delsin knelt beside Eugene and shook Eugene's shoulders.

"Eugene? Eugene! C'mon, you Video stud, wake up." Delsin's voice was calm, but underneath his tone I could hear an underlying element of panic. I finally snapped to my senses and kneeled down by Eugene's side. "Scoot." I nudged Fetch with my elbow, and without hesitation, she scooted over so I could sit and examine the wound more carefully.

"Do your magic, Aquagirl." Fetch shrugged.

"Lame-ass nickname." I muttered under my breath. I squinted. The streak on his scorch mark was-I couldn't find any other way to describe it-light. It was made of pure light. I vaguely remembered a Conduit with light powers, but I couldn't recall the name. I reached two fingers out and brushed the surface of the streak, and quickly withdrew. It burned like an oven. My fingers still ached from the contact.

"Okay, um..." I reached a hand out, and a concentrated flow of water formed on the wound. It formed a misshapen blob and then, sank into the burn. Immediately, the streak of light vanished, and the skin healed almost immediately, leaving only a black splotch on his t-shirt. Eugene mumbled and opened his eyes slowly.

"T-take it easy." I cautioned. Delsin helped Eugene sit up slowly. Eugene still looked disoriented, his eyes half-closed and breathing unevenly.

"Hey, Eugene. Had a nice time?" Delsin stared intently at Eugene's face, looking for any other abnormalities.

A quiet mumble..."My phone..."

"Your phone? Where is it?" Delsin looked around, but Eugene's mumble became a little more clear, a tone of urgency imbued.

"Listen to me. It's her..."

"Her?"

"It's-" Before Eugene could finish his thought, there was a patter of footsteps. Delsin and Fetch were immediately on their feet. My muscles tensed, ready for the encounter, as I scooted closer to Eugene, checking over to see if he was okay. He tried shaking me off, mumbling, "I'm fine, fine..." but I ignored him.

"Who are you?!" Delsin yelled. The door all the way down the corridor quivered. Delsin and Fetch exchanged a wary look. Fetch took a step forward, igniting her hand with neon.

"Come out-we won't hurt you." Fetch tried. "We just wanna talk!"

The door creaked open, ever so slowly.

Delsin took a step, and all hell broke loose.

There was a blur of pure white light, zooming down the corridor. Delsin yelled, but Fetch was knocked off her feet by the blur. Delsin stumbled but kept his ground. Eugene was immediately alert, sitting up and scrambling to his feet. "Delsin, it's her, it's-"

The blur was on Fetch in an instant, and I could see a glimpse-ferocious, cornflower-blue eyes-as the attacker's arm ignited with pure white flame that scorched my eyes as I stood hurriedly. There was a spark of neon pink, but Fetch went down, unconscious, smoking with those particles and shining wisps.

I found myself side-to-side with Eugene, and a bolt of ice combined with a huge, pixilated blue sword flew towards the attacker. But she, or he, nimbly dodged and sped towards us. She flew into the air, and the corridor light flickered off as the person lit up, literally, as vibrant as the sun. She slammed into the ground, and I felt as if my body was on fire as I fell into darkness. But before I blacked out, I could hear Crystal's scream, running towards us...

"MAIA, NO!"


	14. Chapter 14-I Still Don't Trust You

**Eugene's POV**

_Crack._

The sound seemed to break through the thick wall of fuzz in my mind, and my thoughts began to sort themselves out. There was an uncomfortable tingling sensation on my chest, and that small detail brought it all rushing back.

"Ugh…"

The meager yellow light from the cheap bedside lamp threw a golden haze over the room and caused my first few blinks to be filled with yellow brightness. Finally, I kept my eyes open, and although my vision was blurry as hell, I didn't feel as crappy as before.

I lifted my head, my mind still slightly spinning, and took in my surroundings. I was in a whitewashed, large but simple room with a fuzzy dark gray carpeting. There were three metal beds shoved against the wall-Fetch lay on the cot closest to the door, Delsin in the middle, and I was right next to a window. It looked like night-I couldn't see shit outside. Olivia wasn't here.

Where _were_ we?

I could heard shuffling behind a white door right across from me. There was a sound like eggs cracking, muffled by the wall separating the rooms.

"F-fetch?" I called quietly. "Delsin?"

The shuffling behind the door pauses at the sound of my voice.

"Olivia? Is that you?" I raise my voice slightly, hoping for her reassuring reply. There was a tight knot of panic in my chest, winding around my ribs and making it hard to breathe.

There was no response.

"Olivia?" I hastily glanced over at Fetch and Delsin's unmoving bodies. They were in their same clothes from before, but the clothing was scorching in random places and Fetch's jacket had a tear in the front. Their faces were smudged with grime. I put a hand up to my face, and flinched when I felt a layer of sweat, dirt, and soot merging to form a disgusting layer on my skin.

I fumbled for my glasses, and found them on the bedside table. I grabbed them and roughly shoved them onto my face, but the lens were also smudged to hell. Sighing in frustration, I slipped them back off. I looked down, and there was a huge burn mark on my chest.

The knot in my chest tightened. Oh God.

Shakily, I got to my feet. I walked over to Delsin's still body.

"Delsin?" I whispered. The knot loosened when I saw the faint rise and fall of his chest.

"Hello! Olivia!" I tapped the door to knock, but the motion sent the door creaking forward. I stood there, blinking, as the door slowly opened. It was a tiny kitchen, with a basic stove, fridge, sink, and counters with a small wooden table with two desk chairs.

But it was the figure at the counter that got my attention.

She whipped around and backed up like a cornered cat. The electric blue eyes…the platinum hair glinting in the fluorescent light…

_Maia Emerson._

I clumsily arranged my legs into a defensive stance as I began to channel my powers. I was already drained of energy, but video pixels sparked at my fingers. "Why are you here?" I stammered. God, if only Delsin was here. He knew how to take care of people.

Maia's eyes widened as she held up her hands, the way a criminal would when caught by the police. "Wait, before you attack…" She had a bright blue hoodie on and jeans. She was a little shorter than me, and by her innocent hipster-teenager appearance, I felt a little ridiculous being so frightened. But I'd seen what she could do. The scar on my chest ached as I glared at her.

"Uh-" A Bloodthirsty Blade flew from my hand, almost taking up the whole room, and slammed into the wall, exploding into a bunch of useless blue pixels.

"Woah!" I whirled around. Maia was standing there, right behind me. But how…?

My confidence was quickly crumbling as it was my turn to back up against the counter.

"W-wait, I-" Maia tried to approach me, but I made a strangled noise.

"S-stop!" I raised my hand, video sparks flying from my fingers. "I-I know karate!" Immediately, I turned red. Of course I didn't know karate, it was just the first thing that came to mind…

"I w-won't hurt you." Her voice was so quiet I had to strain my ears to hear, and it had a shy, apologetic quality that shocked me. It didn't fit the fearless girl that had beat two of the most powerful Conduits I knew.

"Did you kill Olivia?" My breathing began to rapidly speed up, as I fought down panic. "Did you put Fetch and Olivia into some eternal Emerald Dream? Oh God, please don't tell me you can do that too!" Words spluttered from my mouth in a state of fear. Still needed to work on that.

"No, no, I-I wouldn't do that." Maia's eyes widened. "Don't worry, I won't go all Garrosh-massacre style like I did last time." The words seemed to tumble out before she would stop them.

"I-wait." I blinked. "You know WoW?"

"Er…" Maia scratched the back of her head. But I remembered who she was, and I snapped back to reality.

"Why are we here? Where are we? Who are you? Wait, I already know who you are-but why are you here? Where's Olivia? Euhhh?" I trailed off in confusion. I was really bad at interrogating. _Jesus, Delsin, Fetch, wake up…_

"Uh…" Maia looked flustered, like she couldn't keep up with my questions. "Okay, um, y-you're in an o-old abandoned house, about 5 miles from B-Boston." I tilted my head, a little flabbergasted at her wavering confidence and her awkwardness. She was playing with a strand of her hair, and she refused to meet my eyes, intensely focused on her shoes.

"I-I brought you here two days ago, a-and your water friend i-is…um, no, wait, Crystal said s-she would take care…" She trailed off as all her confidence broke, as she pretended to be fascinated with the floor.

"Um, are you…okay?" I didn't think I would ever meet anyone as awkward as me, but Maia took the cake. Strange for one of the most powerful Conduits in the nation.

"G-great." For one second, her eyes flickered back, and I froze at the sight of her wide, blue eyes. They were so bright and alive, a clashing contrast with her typical appearance.

For a second, all I could do was stare at those depthless electric oceans. Then she looked away, and my cheeks heated as I, too, looked down. This was ridiculous. Why was I so…weak? Fetch had once told me not to be afraid of my powers, to embrace them-but easy for her to say. I knew I was powerful, but the thought of such power-it scared me a little. It was easy being all powerful in _Heaven's Hellfire, _but real life? That…that was different.

"You have stuff on your face." She mumbled.

"Huh?"

"You look terrible." She admitted bluntly. It was apparently easier for her to talk when she was being (painfully) honest. "Here."

She shuffled to the counter, shouldering past me. Our shoulders bumped, and I scooted away, and sat somewhat uncertainly on a chair as she picked up an orange dishtowel and wet it under the faucet. She carried the dripping towel over as she sat across from me.

"Now-now hold still." She said, trying to be firm. I stared, at a loss for words, as she began stroking the towel across my face. I squeezed my eyes shut as she became more aggressive, scrubbing my skin raw, but I could definitely feel the grime getting wiped off, and my skin seemed to breathe a sigh of content as I opened my eyes, my face damp. Maia studied the now filthy towel, expressionless.

"Sorry. You can do it yourself. You still have some stuff on your face." She tossed the towel at me and stood.

"So-" I wiped my glasses clean on my shirt and pushed them on. "Why are you taking care of us?"

Maia paused at this as she returned to the counter. I noticed an orange bowl and empty eggshells next to it. She picked up her spoon and continued stirring the concoction in the bowl, with slow, measured movements.

"I felt bad, I guess." She shrugged. "I mean, I thought Crystal called me because she needed someone taken care of. That's usually the only reason people call me." Her voice took a note of scorn, but it quickly vanished. She kept a complete poker face as she opened a cabinet, found a salt shaker, and carelessly shook the salt into the bowl and continued stirring.

"She had some ridiculous theory that Kyra and I-well, she thought there was a r-rift." Maia cranked up the stovetop, and a little blue flame sparked as she slid a frying pan onto the top. "She thought that I would need 'allies'. "I'm on your side, Maia."" Maia shook her head a little, her blonde curls bouncing like basketballs as she poured the egg-thing from the bowl into the pan. There was a delicious-sounding sizzle, and my stomach rolled over like a whimpering puppy.

"Anyway," She continued as she gave the pan a small shake. The scent of cheese, salt, and egg permeated the air and dropped straight into my gut. I shifted as my stomach growled loudly, but the sizzle of the frying pan drowned it out, thankfully. "It's all nonsense. But I guess I'm just cleaning up my own mess."

"I still don't know if I trust you," I stammered. She connected her gaze with mine, and her deeply intense blue eyes churned my emotions, bordering on wariness and admiration.

But instead of an expected snide retort, she inquired meekly, "Do you want an omelette?"

"Um," My head screamed at me not to trust her, but I was just too hungry. "Yeah. Please."

"I didn't poison it. I don't have the legal authority to have any life-threatening chemicals in my possession," Maia said flatly, reading my mind as she slid a paper plate in front of me.

"Um…okay." I couldn't help it as my mouth watered, cutting into the egg and bringing a heavenly bite to my mouth. "Mmm."

"Is it good?" Maia asked innocently.

"I still don't trust you." I said through a muffled mouthful.

"I wasn't asking you to." She replied. I blinked, stunned by her genuine honesty. For a criminal, she was truthful.

A little too truthful, maybe?

"I should still turn you in," I blurted out. "You're a criminal." I shrank back a little. She was sure to explode and take off before I could actually do the turning in. But instead, Maia sat back in her seat and tapped her chin with her finger.

"Hmmm." Instead of being angry, Maia contemplated this thoughtfully. I stopped eating and watched as her little nose twitched, her eyes having that deep, thinking look.

"Well, think of it this way, Eugene Sims-yes, I know who you are, you're very famous-take two criminals bound in chains. You would have to release one-"

"Why would I do that?!"

"Just let me finish. The first criminal kills to temporarily sate his bloodlust, steals to temporarily satisfy his never-ending greed, but he keeps doing these things because he always wants more, always _wants. _"

I didn't see the point in this, but I nodded for her to continue.

"The second criminal only killed because he was attacked first, and he was frightened, scared. He stole because never, in his life, has he ever had enough to eat or wear or anything. Partly for revenge at the world, for never giving him a chance, but mostly it's for survival. A diamond can buy month's supply of food. A cargo box can contain much-needed clothes, or soap, or water, things vital for survival. And he keeps stealing because that is the only way, because the world just goes too fast and that food is going to run out eventually, and those clothes won't last long, so he always needs to replenish his stock. It's a battle between wants and needs."

"So…I'm guessing you're the second criminal?" I said stupidly. Her eyes remained calm, but this time they hold onto my gaze. I knew she wasn't lying.

"True, I am a criminal. I have a tainted record and I'm not exactly not guilty of what I've committed over the years. But I never wanted to be a notorious criminal, never wanted to frighten anyone. I don't even want to be the richest woman on the earth. I just want a sense of security that is very hard to achieve for street rats like me."

"This is a very confusing lesson." I pushed my glasses up my nose. I couldn't help feeling sympathetic for her-I never considered the luxuries I've been able to enjoy.

"Yeah. I guess you can't really understand." Maia's face closed off, and her eyes broke off again and fixated upon a random point.

"I remember you, you know." She said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"That night when I was on the run from the D.U.P.'s. Even then I recognized you from the D.U.P. wanted posters. They weren't after me, but I was still afraid." Maia fumbled with her sleeve.

"Yeah, I remember you from that night, too." I said slowly. Talking to her seemed easy, a sense of security I haven't really experienced before. When I'm talking to Delsin and Fetch, I do feel secure-but this was different. More like being able to comfortably confide in all the deep and feels-y stuff.

There was a muffled groan from the next room. Maia's head snapped up and she jumped out of her seat. Surprised at her sudden jumpiness, I stood as well, looking at her expectantly.

"I should go. They'll be waking up soon. And I'm sorry again about what happened." Maia backed to the window, nervously glancing at the door. "Remember-I was never here."

"Wait-" But in a blinding flash of white light, she was gone. I could see a faint streak of the same light dashing across the landscape, and at first I considered chasing after her, or sending an Angel. But these thoughts were quickly dismissed as I assessed her speed-she disappeared over the horizon in a millisecond. No way I could catch her.

"Ugh…guys?" Delsin's voice was groggy with fatigue. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. Those intense blue eyes imprinted upon my mind.

"Eugene?"

"Yeah," I opened my eyes. _Remember-I was never here. _Her words mingled with the image of her eyes as I forced a smile. "I'm here."


End file.
